Arranged
by Ecrit
Summary: A Queen arranges her own marriage in order to save her kingdom from a possibly tyrannical ruler, while a prince comes back from a war and finds out that he has been betrothed to a queen from a neighbouring country. Updated weekly or quicker :D
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_"If the prince falls in love with another, on his wedding night you will be turned into sea foam." The words echoed through her mind as she watched her prince standing at the alter. She walked towards him, her shoulders held high but her eyes itching with tears that wanted to fall out. He wasn't looking at her, no, he was looking and the beautiful figure laden in white walking in step behind her. _

_The Princess, his fiance, the witch had known when she had agreed to give her legs. She had known that The Prince was engaged, that he was already in love. She sighed, her heart feeling numb and a feeling of dread on her stomach. She would be turning to sea foam in a few hours. _

_The wedding went by really fast and she watched as Prince Eric kissed the bride, it had been two years since she'd made the deal. Three years since she'd fallen in love with him, the tears flew from her eyes freely. _

_She could see the king and queen watching her, a sad expression in both of their eyes. They had been eager to see her wed to the prince, they had known of her love for him. _

_She walked out to the dock, ready to become one with the ocean again. She dove into the ocean, letting herself drown but that didn't happen. She felt strong arms wrap around her waist and pull her to the surface, her eyes seeing a fresh pair of blue orbs. _

_"Ariel, don't ever leave me again." And she felt soft lips crushing into hers. Eric. _

_They were married two days later. 'The Princess from the other country' had actually been the sea witch in disguise and their marriage had been anulled. _

_When she'd asked to see her however, nobody knew where she'd gone. Ariel didn't have time to wonder however because following her marriage she quickly returned to the sea. She hadn't seen her family in ages and she brought The Prince along with her. They had spent their honeymoon underwater and after returning they had quickly been swept up by work. _

_The Prince had had his coronation and they had no more time to enjoy enough of each other's company. One night however, a year later, the new Queen realized that her body was now harboring a child. _

_Nine months later she gave birth, but sadly enough her husband was gone. She named him Tristan after her loneliness. When the King came back he realized the state that his wife was in and began cutting back on work. They began living happily ever after again until one day a basket arrived at the castle with a baby girl in it. It was a baby girl and the Queen only had to look at her once to realize who she was. The Sea Witch's child. _

_The King suggested that they send her off to an orphanage of sorts but the Queen disagreed saying that the baby would have to be the King's responsibility and that she would be named their daughter. They named her Melody. _

_The King and Queen of Kyrria lived happily with their oldest adopted daughter Melody and their son Tristan. _

_When time came for The King to name his heir between the two children the Queen intervened saying that she did not want neither Melody not Tristan on the throne and when Tristan turned thirteen she gave birth again. _

_Naming the child Eric, after his father she said that he would be the future King. The King obeyed and a proclamation was sent out all over the country announcing that the heir had been born. _

_On the new babe's sixth birthday the mother went to the ocean with all of her children. Telling them that she loved them she walked into the water never to return again. Tristan, nineteen years old, tried to follow her into the water but Melody held him back. _

_"We can't stop her." _

_So they fell apart. The country entered a brutal war with their neighbors to the west and the prince joined. It seemed to never end until the land of Lorraine came to their aid. _

_As thanks, and a means to keep open their friendship the Prince became bethrothed to the queen of the other land. _

* * *

_The Queen of Lorraine gave birth to a healthy baby in mid-August, and she was named heir to the throne the moment she breathed her first breath. _

_She was the apple of her father's eyes and her mother absolutely doted on her. HEr parents spent every moment they could spare with her and when she was old enough to speak coherently her father began taking her to his meetings. As a four year old she would sit in one of the council member's lap taking in everything they said. _

_She knew everything that went on in the kingdom. The courtiers adored her because the smile never left her face an the ladies loved to dress her up. The knights taught her their sword skills, and after much begging on her part they let her participate in duels and tournaments. _

_She pleased everyone, after all who couldn't love a sweet and loving princess? _

_She met her best friend Adelaide when she was going around the country with her father, she had been eight and had gotten lost. There was a small girl who she'd found living in a whorehouse. Her mother had died, at least thats what she'd told her and when her father had found her she'd insisted that they bring her along. _

_Her name was Carla Maria, and they grew up as sisters. _

_When Adelaide turned sixteen she met a man, one that she thought she'd fallen in love with. He had a beautiful face, he had perfect manners and he had been an excellent debater. She hung on his every word and she had introduced him to Carla. _

_He quicly fell in love with her best friend and she had been hearbroken. And in a moment of jealousy she decided to go on a political trip with her parents. _

_They went to many different places and it had been the best thing she'd done in her entire life. _

_She saw the pain of the people, the harshness of poverty, the cruelty of war and she vowed to let peace reign everywhere. _

_On her journey back they stopped by the house of her cousin, that was when the conflict started. She could tell, by the time dinner had started that her cousin was scheming, he complimented them and showevered them with gifts which they denied. _

_He insisted on showing her around and as time went on she realized what he was trying to do. A month into their visit, which had been elongated due to his insistance he proposed. _

_She had been disgusted, and after a very rude denial she left with her parents to home. _

_The next day her parents had been killed. She had survived only because she had snuck out of his estate to visit the village and had been dressed in a man's clothes. They had thought her a servant boy and had spared her life even though she had been forced to watch both of her parent's throats slit in front of her. _

_She had tried to fight them off but her father had stabbed her in the leg and shoulders to keep her from fighting for them after he had realized what was happening. _

_She had been the sole survivor of the attack, all the female servants had been killed in their search to find the princess. They had assumed that they'd had a warning of sorts and had tried to hide as a servant. _

_She had walked, almost bleeding to death, to a village nearby where they had stiched her up. One of the women had been a servant at the castle and had recognized her and she had been returned in a matter of days. _

_Assuming the title of Queen she began her rule, knowing that it had been her cousin who had ordered the assassination, she guarded herself carefully. _

_The people began to love her, not that they hadn't before and slowly she garnered the respect of all the ambassadors and lords. _

_On her twentieth birthday she found a clause in the constitution of the country that stated that no ruler could be coronated until they were married. So, she did the easiest thing, the neighboring country had a prince close to her age, she arranged her own marriage with him. _

_The next in line for the throne was her cousin, who had married soon after her parent's death to a rich merchant's daughter, and that was not something she woud let happen. She had a brother, but he had been adopted and although she petitioned his ligitimacy it didn't work. She couldn't rule as regent and since she had already crowned herself she knew her cousin would be working hard to raise an army against her. _


	2. Down the Aisle

**1**

"Yes, I know, it's important and it's for the best of our country." The girl nodded at the older woman who was looking at her kindly.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this your highness?"

The girl gave the older woman a warm smile. "I have no choice do I?"

The woman had a sad look in her eyes, "There is always another way."

"This is for the best." the girl repeated more to herself than anyone else.

"But dear, at least give yourself some time before to get to know him."

The girl sighed. "I do not have that kind of luxury Anne, I will be twenty in two day's time. I have to be married before that or you know what will happen."

"A day is not enough time for him to get an army ready."

The girl laughed bitterly, "Don't be naiive Anne, do you think he hasn't already gotten his army ready? They are getting ready to march as we speak. No, I must be wed and crowned before he has a chance to object."

The woman sighed, "I wish your mama and papa were still here, you are to young to be having to make these decisions."

"I wish they were here as well…" the girl looked like she wanted to say more but she turned away from the woman to look at her reflection in the mirror.

She was pretty, she knew that but the woman looking back at her was no longer the giggling sweet girl that usually looked back at her from the mirror. No, instead what she saw was a stern looking beautiful woman. Her hair was tied back with just a few strands hanging loose. She was wearing a shimmering silver dress with a long train that circled the whole room.

She looked at herself, and bit her lips. She was getting married, married to someone she had never seen in her entire life.

She'd had the chance to see him, many times actually but she had always made an excuse. She was beginning to regret that now, but she had tried a few months ago. She'd even visited the other country, but he hadn't been there, only his older brother, the king, and his younger siblings.

The other woman left the room and she was left alone to stare at herself and think even more troublesome thoughts.

Why had her parents died? Why had she been named heir? In most other countries the heir would be the son, why did she have to be the heir she was a girl?

It was all for the best though, she thought, her brother couldn't be able to bear the responsibility of being a King, and although she wished her parents were alive and here to take the hard decisions away from her she could do nothing about it.

"I wish…" She gazed wistfully at her reflection. She wished that she didn't have to marry a complete stranger, she wished she'd tried harder to meet him before her wedding day. It had been her fault, she knew that much but she consoled herself thinking that no prince could be that terrible when his entire family had been so kind to her during her visit.

There was a loud knock at her door and she opened her mouth to tell them to come in when a wave of panic came over her. This was what she had been waiting for, the panic, so far she had been completely stoic and accepting of what she had gotten herself into but now, with only seconds away before she was bound for life she felt it.

"Mama, Papa, help me…" She murmured fingering the gold locket that hung around her neck. She wished they were here to tell her everything would be better.

The knock on the door got even louder and impatient and she glared at it, but her voice was composed when she called "Come in!"

"Chicken!" A tall brunette stepped in from the other side of the door. "Chicken, you're gonna be late!"

"Mouse, I'm scared." She whispered. She couldn't speak any louder for fear of screaming. Her mind was cluttered with a million thoughts and part of her wanted to climb out of the window.

"I know." Her friend replied. "Thats why I'm your maid of honor, to keep you from jumping out of the window like you want to right now."

She looked up at her friend's soft gray eyes, "What if I can't do it?"

"Oh please, I can't think of anything you can't do." Her friend laughed, "You're brave remember?"

She felt her body relax, Carla, Mouse, had always been able to calm her down. Ever since they had both been children, Carla had been like an older sister despite being younger by an entire year.

"Let's go get you married." She sighed and followed her friend out the door, her stomach still churning with acid.

He was standing next to his father, the princess was late. His father had a stern gaze on him and he looked down at the first row of people. His mother sat in the middle, looking at him her eyes proud but sad. She had her one arm around her younger son who was beginning to nod off and another holding the hand of her daughter who played with a ring on her hand.

"She'll be here son, don't worry" the man whispered, and he didn't have to look at his father to know that his eyebrows were furrowed with worry and he could tell that he didn't believe what he was saying.

He made no reply, instead he filled his mind with thoughts on how much he did not want to get married. His kingdom was going through a large economic crisis, they had no money, the mines had been depleted and they had just come out of a war. They desperately needed the aid of his bride-to-be's country. Of course his father had been calling in favors from the new queen for a few years but that was not enough, after this kingdom's countries king and queen had died their friendship needed to be renewed.

The queen had been more than happy to help them, that was what he had learned from the countless meetings that he had attended, but it wasn't enough.

So, his father had come up with a suggestion, and while he had been away at the war his father had arranged a marriage for him. He understood its importance, he wasn't that spoilt, but he was in no way looking forward to it.

He had even tried to meet her a few times, his soon to be wife, but she had always avoided it. At least, that was what it felt like, the excuses had always been reasonable but somehow he felt like she had been avoiding him. The

one time that she had come to visit he hadn't been home.

She had stayed in his castle for maybe a week and the entire time he'd been away, he had tried to come back on time but she had left by the time he'd returned.

His sister waved at him from her seat, looking away from the ring as the trumpets began to blare. The princess had finally decided to come, he felt his stomach churning.

In a few minutes he would be bound for life to a woman that he still had yet to meet. He knew vaguely what she looked like from the portraits that had been sent to him when they had first been betrothed. She had been pretty but beauty meant nothing, he knew it would fade one day and even though none of his family members or even the servants at the castle had one bad word against her he didn't want to get married. He was terrified.

Even when he was at war, facing death in every minute he hadn't been this terrified. Death would have come and gone in a flash, his marriage would last forever.

"I'm proud of you son," he heard his father say but he couldn't reply because from the other side of the hall a woman approached. It wasn't his future bride but her maid of honor, she was dressed in a pale pink dress and her blonde curls reached her waist. She had a large smile on her face as she gracefully sprinkled rose petals on the floor in front of her.

He thought she was beautiful but before he could think any more on her another figure came, this one dressed in white from head to toe. If the girl before had been beautiful this one would have been beyond words, she looked like an angel, but despite her beauty he thought she looked terrifying.

She had dark hair that was all piled on top of her head in a carefully braided bun, she she shimmered as she walked. There were pearls sewn on her dress, and while all of her was stunning it was her race that scared him. Her eyebrows were arched and her eyes angled, she had sharp cheekbones and a stern mouth with a lower lip that softly jutted out in a pout. She didn't look at the floor or at the decorations like most shy brides would, she didn't bite

her lips demurely like a girl would, no, instead she locked eyes at him as if challenging him. She stared straight at him as she walked, and he felt as if she could read his mind, he stared right back at her putting up a pretense of being unafraid.

She looked at him, trying to figure out what he was like before she reached where he was standing. She was glad that the music was so slow because it gave her time. She didn't know what she'd do when the minister asked her to accept him as her husband, the thought still horrified her.

He was attractive yes, and his posture was good and firm. His had a hard jaw and she could see a small strained smile on the edge of his lips.

He stared right back at her which was a surprise, most people never met her gaze, she had been known to be intimidating but that made sense since she'd been forced on the throne at the young age of seventeen, being intimidating was the only thing that kept her alive.

She cocked her head a little bit to in confusion, the only person to have ever been able to keep eye contact with her for so long had been her father, her heart felt like it had stopped beating. She wished they were here.

Suddenly, she felt annoyed, why should a stupid prince that she was forced to marry be allowed to remind her of such sad things?

She gave him her sweetest smile in an attempt to disarm him. She saw his eyebrows raise as he blinked. Ha, she had won.

She had smiled at him, her smile had completely changed her face, she looked warm for a second instead of cold and terrifying. It was gone in a second however, and he felt goosebumps rising in his arms.

The sense of victory didn't last long because alas she had reached him.

The minister droned on and on and he was happy that the man spoke so slowly.

She would have to kiss him, in front of a thousand people. Why had she been so adamant about avoiding him?

He would have to kiss her, how had he forgotten? The thought was terrifying.

Her stomach was doing backflips, what if she threw up on him?

Would it be like kissing an ice block? She was an ice block.

He was still staring back at her.

She wouldn't look away, her eyes weren't icy like he'd expected. Brown, what a warm colour.

"Do you Prince…" The minister went on for an hour to say his entire name.

Say I don't, say I don't she begged silently.

"I do"

"And you Princess, do you take Prince…" How long could one man's name be?

"I do."

Her voice was soft but loud he noted.

"You may kiss the bride."

He just stared. He couldn't move.

She saw a tall man enter the room with two heavily armed men from the corner of her eye and mentally cursed._ No, not now, why couldn't he have come a minute later._ She thought.

She looked at the prince who seemed frozen and taking a deep breath she wrapped her arms around him kissing him in a way that would look passionate praying that he would get the hint.

He did. She was kissing him, actually kissing him, and although he felt incredibly uncomfortable he put his arms around her.

She pulled away, and he followed quickly, not at all eager to continue. Not that she was a bad kisser, but she was still an ice queen, and he'd only ever heard her say two words. He couldn't kiss a stranger.

"Pretend." He thought he heard her whisper to him as they both turned towards the crowd of people who had come up to them. He caught a surprised look on his father's face as he put his arms around his new bride's waist. His arms felt like lead.


	3. Goodbyes

**2**

He had been standing stiffly by her for an entire hour now. They hadn't had the chance to converse due to the never-ending amount of people that came to give them their blessing. For the first time in his life he was glad to have so many simpering nobles to suck up to him. At the moment he felt like he would be content with never having to talk to his bride, ever.

That wish didn't last long however because he suddenly felt her edge closer to him and her arms wrap tightly around his. "Play along…" He heard her mutter as she suddenly jerked him forward.

"Dimitri!" He heard her gush, the first time he'd heard her speak above a whisper. "Cousin! Its so nice to see you again!" Her voice was dipped with sugar and he wondered if this was how she normally spoke. Maybe the quiet and stern voice had just been a facade for the foreign nobles, maybe this was how she really was like.

He thought that until he heard the reply, "Is it now dear cousin? Thats odd since my invitation seems to have been lost in the mail."

"Lost?" He could hear it in her voice now, she wasn't trying to hide her dislike for the man in front of her. "Oh I am so sorry dear! I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me!" he looks at the woman in his arms amazed by the amount of bile in her words.

"Of course, we are family after all. I'm just glad I found out about it in my visit to Kyria."

He saw his bride's eyes widen in shock and what looked like fear. What was she so scared of? Kyria was his country, he couldn't understand why the mention of it should scare her so much. Maybe it was because he was from there, was she as afraid of being committed to him as he was of being committed to her?

The shock left her face as quickly as it had come and she replied sweetly, "Of course, its a pity that we cannot enjoy each other's company for longer."

Her tone implied anything but.

The man bowed one more time as he left, the queen released his arm the second he turned his back.

"Sorry." Was all she said as they stood there in silence. The nobles had stopped now and the music had started. People were beginning to dance, and some were looking confused at the bride and groom. They had only danced once, the dance of the bride and groom but other than that there was nothing.

"Do you want to dance?" He heard himself ask and it was odd to see the girl's face brighten even if it was for a second. She was ice queen again right afterwards but she took his hand and he led her into the middle of the ballroom. He could see the eyes on him and his partner and the other dancers seemed to clear off just to watch. It had been an entire hour since they had danced, either one of them, and that in itself was unheard of.

She couldn't help but smile when he asked her to dance, she loved dancing. It had been a pain having to stand there stoically waiting for all of the nobles to be done sucking up to her. Though she had no desire to speak to her new husband she would much rather dance in silence than stand in silence.

She wondered if she should start a conversation, but what should she say?

She could talk about the weather, that was always a safe subject.

He wondered if he should start a conversation, but he had absolutely no clue what to start with. There was the weather, but this country seemed to be nothing but sun, and how could he comment on the weather when this was his first time visiting here?

"Nice weather we're having" The words fell out of his mouth before he could even think about them and they sounded so awkward.

"Yes, it's usually very sunny here."She replied - that was all they said to each other for the next ten minutes but she was content. Dancing meant that there was no need for talk, and the constant change in partners made it much more bearable. It was so much easier talking to a foreign stranger when you hadn't just been married to him.

Her first partner had apparently been a soldier, he had a long scar across his face and she found that he was quite enjoyable to talk to. He told her that he had been one of the last to be deployed and how he'd actually accompanied the prince because his fiance was living in this country.

The queen thought it was funny how he so obviously loved his fiance, a girl he hadn't seen for three years while she couldn't wait to be far away from her's. No fiance anymore though, they were married. She shivered.

They switched partners again and she was back with her groom. His cheeks were slightly flushed and he still had the aftermath of a smile on his face. She took a peek at who he had been dancing with before and was surprised to see that it was Mouse, her maid of honor. Of course Mouse would have been the one to make him laugh, Mouse could make anyone laugh. They didn't engage in small talk however like she had with her other partner, they had all of eternity being forced to get to know one another she'd much rather not start until she absolutely had to.

But then she caught eyes with Mouse who gave her a glare and mouthed something that looked like 'don't be a block of ice'. She sighed, Mouse was probably right, after all she'd been in the same position a year ago and now she was happily almost married.

"Do you enjoy dancing your highness?" She asked the prince as politely as she could. He looked shocked to hear her speak to him, she fought a smile.

"I do not dislike it." He commented.

"Ah…" She replied, he did not like dancing. That was one thing they didn't have in common. The danced in silence until it was time to change partners again.

This time she was paired with a stuffy looking noble. He seemed to be only content when speaking of his land and how much money he had. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm sure your highness knows, I regulate my merchants most efficiently, and if ever need be I would be glad to…" So he was expecting a job offer.

She wished it was socially acceptable for her to roll her eyes. She looked at the prince who was dancing with a round noblewoman. He seemed to be enjoying talking to the elderly woman, she recognized her as Countess Diana, she was known for her kindness but also for her impropriety. The court gossips detested her because, as she had heard from them, the countess did whatever she wanted.

She'd always wanted to meet her.

They switched back now to their original partners.

The prince had had the best of luck in dance partners, aside from his bride of course. Though, he knew he wasn't being fair to her, he just had no desire to be anywhere close to her. Truth be told she terrified him so when they switched back to their original partners he couldn't help but feel disappointed. He could tell that she didn't want to be dancing with him either.

He wondered if it was his turn to attempt a conversation.

"Do you like dancing your highness?" He asked, continuing the conversation they had been having the last time.

"Yes, I love it." He replied and he noticed her eyes brighten. He had no clue how to follow up his question and they stayed in silence again. That was how the rest of the night went. It would either be her or him asking one simple question and they wouldn't speak for another ten minutes.

She stayed on the dance floor even after the first dance ended, finding other partners to dance with while he left as soon as it ended.

He did see her a few times, smiling a giant smile and he even caught her flirting occasionally with a few of the soldiers. He didn't care though, and he didn't think that he ever would.

He danced a few more times however, with the Countess Diana who told him about her three daughters and also with Lady Carla Maria who insisted she call him 'Mouse'. He couldn't understand why since she looked nothing like a mouse.

He even enjoyed talking to her fiance who at first glance looked brutish and terrifying with his numerous scars. He wondered how someone so beautiful as the Lady Mouse had fallen in love with someone like Lord Rowan.

The night came to a close too soon for him and he saw his bride gliding towards him, he had been talking to Lord Rowan about battle strategies when he saw Lady Mouse running towards her. The two women embraced and he thought he saw a small tear running down The Queen's cheek.

"Be good to her your highness," He heard Lord Rowan rumble. He nodded as his bride came and stood beside him.

"Your Highness," Lord Rowan bowed to The Queen who curtsied back. "Congratulations on your marriage."

The queen managed a small smile and she turned towards him. "We have to be leaving soon your highness, to your country."

He nodded, he knew that of course. The carriage had already arrived and most of the guests had already left. The ballroom was practically empty.

The four made their way to the carriage, he wondered how someone like the frozen queen was such good friends with mouse. He felt bad dubbing her her 'frozen queen' but even now she seemed very cold and aloof. She barely looked at him as they walked and her mouth was set in a hard stern line. This was

why she was such a good queen, he couldn't imagine anyone brave enough to cross her.

Lady Mouse however seemed to be brimming with emotion, he could hear soft sobs coming from her and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

It was when they reached the carriage that he thought maybe she would melt. Right when he opened the door for her she turned away, taking out a handkerchief from her pockets and dabbing the corner of her left eye.

"Mouse," Her voice seemed to quiver. "It's just a few months, I've been gone for longer before."

Mouse didn't seem to be consoled. "Addie, Chicken," He blanched, she called her chicken? "Chicken, I don't want you to go." The Ice Queen did nothing,

she gave her friend a short hug and went into the carriage seeming not at all perturbed by the state she was leaving her friend in.

Mouse stood outside her head buried in Lord Rowan's chest, he said his goodbyes awkwardly to both of them and entered the carriage. Bile forming in his mouth, he was astonished, he had never met anyone so cold and he dreaded the long ride to the neighboring country. In fact, he dreaded the rest of his life.

She knew that she had been cold, and she could see how the prince was looking at her. He was probably hating her, but she didn't regret it. Lord Rowan would take care of Mouse and she knew her friend didn't need her anymore. She was glad that Mouse had started crying, she knew that if it had not been for her friend she would have broken down in front of everyone and she peeked out the window to see that Mouse seemed to be done with her crying and was now smiling brightly at her friend as her carriage passed.

Of course she'd been faking it.

She laid her head on the window frame and closed her eyes, the dancing had tired her out and she was glad that she could sleep rather than be forced to talk to the prince.


	4. The Ocean

**3**

She had fallen asleep the second the carriage had started moving, she must have been tired from all of the dancing that she had done. He hadn't seen her sit still for a second.

He pulled open the curtain and stared out, he couldn't sleep, not in her presence at least. He had no clue how she did it, no matter how tired he was he wouldn't have been able to sleep in the presence of a stranger.

The carriage ride was bumpy and long, his back was sore from sitting for too long and he was incredibly bored. The carriage didn't stop for an hour and when it finally did the sun had risen. His bride was still sleeping and he didn't want to wake her up. She looked incredibly tired.

He stepped out of the carriage taking in the view. The view was stunning. He reconsidered waking up the queen but then again, he didn't know her. She came from a country with no oceans, she might hate it.

The horses would need their rest for at least a few hours so he wandered.

There were no people nearby, they were at the border between the two countries so it had very few inhabitants. He trudged through the tall grass and to the vast expanse of sand.

He immediately thought of his mother, she loved the ocean and he knew she would have loved this place. The water seemed never-ending, it was the same shade as the sky and he walked all the way to the edge of the sand. Taking off his shoes and pulling up his cotton pants he walked into the water.

His mother had told him, when she was younger of how she had first met his father. She had told him that she had been swimming in the ocean when she'd seen a remnants of a ship-wreck and he had been one of the few survivors.

She had told him that she loved swimming and she'd always been really good at it so when she saw the shipwreck she'd swum to it. It had been the best decision of her life, that was what she told them.

As he grew older, her story changed and he remembered what she'd told him on his sixteenth birthday, she'd told him that she had been from the water. It made no sense to him, and by then the fever had begun to take her but he'd always loved the ocean.

She had made him promise to always love the ocean, and when he got married, teach his wife to love the ocean.

He scoffed at the idea. He couldn't even speak to his wife, how would he be able to teach her to love the ocean?

He stayed in the water until the skin in his feet began to wrinkle. He had taken off his clothes and was up and down the coastline when the driver had come running down from the carriage to tell him the horses were ready.

It was in loathe to leave, but he knew that he'd have to hurry to the kingdom. His father and younger brother had left the second the ball had come to an end and his sister and her daughter had decided to stay.

His people were expecting a princess, specially since they had just come out of a war they needed someone to look on to as hope. Even though he wasn't the heir to the throne he had the responsibility of regent until his younger brother came of age. His father was the current king, but all of the duties of an heir rested on his shoulders.

When he entered the carriage his bride was still asleep. He debated again on whether he should wake her up, but he didn't have to because when the carriage lurched forward her eyes flew open. The look on her face was very comical, her eyes widened and she looked around confused. Then, as if suddenly remembering she sulked into the seat.

He had never seen a Lady, aside from his older sister, sulk in his life. She opened the curtains and looked out curiously.

He held his breath waiting for her reaction, her eyes widened even more and she leaned towards the window until her nose was pressed against the glass.

"The ocean…" Her voice was soft and wistful.

"You've never seen the ocean before?" He asked, she should have since she had visited his castle before.

"I've seen it before." Was her reply, it was short and curt and he wondered if she was annoyed with him for not waking her up.

"Sorry I didn't wake you up, you seemed tired." His breath caught as she sent him a dazzling smile.

"Its fine, I enjoyed the nap. I'll be able to see the ocean more from the castle right?" She asked and he nodded.

He refrained from telling her that she'd probably missed the most beautiful view of her life.

"I've been to the ocean before, once, but I don't remember it." She continued and he was surprised that she wanted to continue the conversation.

"Oh, when?" He asked.

"When I was younger, my parents were visiting Kyria and they took me with them to the ocean."

"Kyria?" He asked, surprised that she'd been to his country more than once. Of course, that shouldn't have been a surprise since his parents were supposed to be very close to her's.

"We used to go there all the time before the war, but… I barely remember the beginning of the war so that means nothing."

He nodded. Her parents had remained neutral during the war, sending weapons and men secretly to the aid of Kyria.

"Today was my first time in Lorraine." He supplied.

"No? Really?" She asked surprised.

"Yes, the war started when I was ten and mother wouldn't let me leave the country before that."

"Next time we go to Lorraine I'll give you a tour." She smiled again at him. He was surprised to see that she wasn't that icy.

"That would be nice." He said.

They talked for the rest of the ride, he learned that she had a younger brother just a few years older than his niece, apparently he was adopted, she had found him abandoned in the city. He learned that she had been friends with Carla Maria since childhood and that Lord Rowan had been in love with Carla ever since he'd danced with her at the masked ball.

He also told her about his family, what he did in the war and he realized that she was incredibly easy to talk to.

The carriage ride seemed shorter and when they finally arrived it was amusing to see her peek out curiously through the curtain.

"There are so many people." She sounded nervous. He had no idea what to say to comfort her.

The carriage came to a screeching halt and the door was opened by the footman.

He got out first, and held his hand out for her to take. The icy look was back on her face and her eyes held a scared look.

"Don't worry." He heard himself say and the girl gave him a forced smile.

There were so many people, she was terrified. On top of that it was incredibly loud, the prince held her hand and she looked straight forward to where the king was standing.

She sent him a small curtsy and was rewarded with a wide smile. "Welcome home daughter." The king said his voice deep and warm.

She felt suffocated.

The prince let go of her hand to embrace his father and she felt a wave of panic go through her. Then she remembered - how could she have forgotten?

She was trapped.

The coldness had set back in her until she saw a familiar figure running down the giant steps of the castle. Two children actually, she hadn't seen the smaller boy behind the older girl, came running down and crashed into her.

"Addy!" They cried hugging her, she hugged them back her heart warming up. Even if she was far away from everyone she knew, at least there were two people that were her's.

"Kristie! Josh!" She exclaimed, "How did you two get here before me?" She asked.

It was Kristie who answered, Josh was still clinging on to her skirt, "We left the second the wedding was over. I wanted to stay for the party but maman said that we had to hurry up and get here."

She felt ten times more comfortable with the two kids by her side, the last time she had come here they had befriended her.

"Addy, do you want to go looking for secret hideouts with us?" The little boy asked. She remembered looking for hideouts last time and was about to reply when the king interrupted.

"Joshua, Addy just got here, I'm sure she would rather rest."

"Actually, you highness I would love to go hunting for secret hideouts." She said, she did not want to leave the company of the two children. "If that is okay of course."

She had been expecting the king to be annoyed but instead he smiled grandly. "Of course! This is your home now your highness, just remember dinner is at six. Don't get lost."

She smiled. "Thank you!"

The children dragged her away before she had a chance to say anything more, not that she had anything to say. For the first time in a long time she felt a sense of relief.

"The carriage with your clothes already came," Kristie began as they walked down the hallway, Joshua was holding her left hand while Kristie was skipping on her right. "You should probably put on new clothes-"

"Treasure hunting clothes!" Joshua exclaimed. "Wear your treasure hunting clothes like last time!"

Addy smiled, "Well then, you guys will have to show me where my clothes are."

Kristie rolled her eyes, "In your rooms of course," She marched forward as the queen picked up her pace.

"Where is my room?" She asked, realizing that that was what she was dreading the most. She didn't want to go to her room, because she knew what that room stood for.

"It's right there," Kristie pointed straight down the hallway. "Just turn left and its the first room." She gave her a look.

"Josh and I have to go get something, we'll be right back." Kristie said with an implying tone. The queen knew that she had no way out of this, she would have to go into the room by herself.

Sighing, she walked towards the door, with any luck the prince wouldn't be inside.

The second he had entered his room he rushed to the bed. He was tired, and after the long swim in the ocean he had been completely exhausted.

He took off his tunic and slammed his head on the pillow. He fell asleep the second his body hit the mattress.

She opened the door, her heart hammering, the room seemed to be empty. She sighed, relieved and walked over to the closet. The maids had already organized her clothes, she shuffled through them looking for her tunic.

There were only dresses.

She realized that the maids had probably put the tunics in the prince's section of the closet, sighing she looked through his clothes for her own tunic and leggings.

At last she found them, folded neatly she saw her initials peeking out from the collar and waist. Quickly she tore off her dress and put on the tunic and leggings, wondering if she should lay the dresses on the bed for the maid to wash them she went towards it, slipping out of her shoes in the process and putting on a more comfortable pair. She tied back her hair, knowing that if she tried hard enough she could easily pass for a boy.

When she reached her bed however, she let out a gasp. She saw the prince sleeping, breathing lightly, his body spread out on the giant bed. It wasn't him that made her gasp but the giant scar on his back the went from his left shoulder to his right hip. It was pink and looked to be completely healed but she wondered what could have caused it. Careful not to wake him, she quickly folded her dress and placed it next to the bed and scurried out of the room.

The image of his scar etched into her mind.


	5. Conflict

**4** Sadly, they didn't find any treasure nor did they find any secret hideouts. Instead, the got yelled at by the cook for stealing some of the cake and were kicked out of the stables for annoying the horses. It had been incredibly fun but she realized that it would be six soon and she knew that they would have to get dressed for dinner.

After she'd dropped of both children to their rooms she headed to her own, nervous about what she'd find there. Hopefully the prince would have been awake by now, she turned the knob to her door and walked in.

"So, you married an Ice Princess huh?" She heard a voice.

"Pretty much," was the reply. She felt her body chill.

The other voice laughed. "Of all the people being forced to marry a block of ice it ends up being you."

The prince sat on his bed while his friend paced across the room.

"That means you won't be able to accompany us tonight huh?" His friend asked in a suggestive tone.

"Shut up, don't be such a bastard Troy." He threw a pillow at the one named Troy who caught it easily.

"So, is she pretty? I bet she's beautiful…" the man sighed. "So beautiful that she'll even try to kill you in your sleep!"

Suddenly he heard a slam, getting up he went to the door which had obviously been slammed short.

"Are you happy now?" He glared at his friend as he rushed out the door. He saw a figure sprinting down the hall away from him and he could plainly tell that she had heard their conversation.

"She heard?" Troy asked as the girl disappeared from view. "Wow, you've been married for one day and she's already broken your heart."

"Shut up." He glared at the man, "Father's going to kill me."

Troy shifted uncomfortably, "I could go apologize to her…" He started but he was waved off.

"I'll speak to her during dinner. You're coming right?" The prince massaged his forehead.

"No, I don't think so, Marley probably wants me to take her to the village fair again." He knew Troy was just making up an excuse but at the moment he was furious with his friend so he let him ramble as he put on his clothes for the dinner.

His father would murder him.

He looked at the clock, realizing that there was still an hour until dinner, Troy had left after giving another short apology and he had absolutely nothing to do. He wandered the castle, wondering where she had gone when he remembered, Kristie. She would know where the queen had gone. He rushed to his niece's door and knocked on it. The door opened and a small eleven year old girl popped out.

"What do you want?" She asked frowning. "Is.. is the princess inside?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's getting dressed." The girl said, then a look came over her face, "Oh, do you want to speak with her?" She asked.

"That would be nice, yes." He said wondering what his niece was scheming.

"One second, I'll get her." He nodded and mentally prepared himself. He wondered if she'd been crying, how would he deal with that? What if she was angry? What if she yelled at him? Demanded that she be taken home? The latter actually did not seem that bad at the time.

He was surprised however when she came to the door with a smile.

"Hello…" She cocked her head to the side as if wondering why he was there.

"Uhm.. hello.. I-" He looked at her confused with her reaction. She should at least have been a little angry.

"Aren't you angry?" He blurted out.

"Angry?" She laughed. "Why would I be angry about something your friend said?" She asked.

"Because he said horrible things." He spluttered.

"And you didn't agree with him." He had no reply. She was being incredibly understanding.

"Aren't you even a little bit angry?"

"No, do you want me to be?"

"No, but you can't just not have anything to say." The girl looked at him incredulously.

"Of course I have things to say." She sounded indignant and he felt a sense of satisfaction. Good, at least she wasn't some kind of martyr.

"But what's the point? I'm just a block of ice right?" So she was angry.

She must have noticed his reaction because she laughed again. "Don't worry, I'm really not that angry. Though I would prefer it if you tried to keep yourself from making assumptions about me your highness." Her tone was stern and he could see how she was able to singlehandedly rule an entire nation.

"I apologize." He bowed to her.

She laughed again, and he realized that her laugh sounded like bells. "You know we're married right? You can call me by my name, and please don't bow to me."

"Of course, sorry." She smiled up at him. "So am I being escorted to dinner or…" She asked.

He gave her his arm as she asked him another question, "So, have you found any secret hideouts in the castle before?"

He looked at her raising one eyebrow. "Of course I have." Her eyes seemed to shimmer with excitement upon hearing his reply. "Do you want me to show them to you?" He asked.

"Could you?" Her voice was eager.

"I'll show you one," He said, "But the rest you have to figure out yourself." He wondered if she'd pout and beg him to help her find more but instead she grinned even wider.

"I wholeheartedly accept the challenge your highness!" She exclaimed.

"Tristan" He amended. "You should call me by my name, we are married if you remember."

She grinned, "Then you should call me by my name."

"I will, I thought we agreed on that already."

"We did, Tristan," She said putting an emphasis on his name. "However you still seem to be avoiding my name like the plague." He grinned.

"Fine then, Addy." He said.

She rolled her eyes at him. "My full name please."

"Adelaide." He whispered looking at her. For some reason he found it difficult to say her name, that was why he'd been avoiding it so much, he looked at her when he said it and he noticed a blush rising up her face. She quickly looked away.

Great. It was getting awkward again.

She hadn't expected him to say her name like that, he'd whispered it, and she felt her insides squirming. Her face grew hot and she turned away from him, he was looking at her curiously and she wished she could just disappear. Her left arm that was looped around his felt tingly and she couldn't decide whether she wanted to pull away or stay that way. They walked down the rest of the way in silence, wondering if it would ever stop getting awkward between them.

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**Okay yeah so this chapter is really short. I hope you guys enjoy this story and please review! I love reviews, long reviews, short reviews, tall reviews, fat reviews, skinny reviews, curvy reviews, hourglass figure reviews! **


	6. Art in Dining

**5**

They were the last to arrive, Adelaide was surprised to see that even Kristie was there, they had left before her.

The seats had name card on top of each plate and she wasn't surprised to see that she was placed directly across the table from Tristan.

He gave her a small reassuring smile as they seated and she wondered if the awkwardness would last through dinner.

The dinner didn't go half as well as the ball had, instead of being able to dance with adventurous soldiers she was conveniently placed between two

incredibly boring advisors to the king. The politics of Kyria baffled her, why the king had so many political advisors she never understood.

Specially since they weren't even favoured by the people, these were just stuffy rich men that did everything in their power to stay rich.

She found herself resisting the urge to roll her eyes multiple times as the advisors blurted out incorrect facts about Lorraine to impress her.

She caught Tristan's eye in the middle of dinner and he smirked at her, she wondered if he'd been listening in on her conversation with the advisors. She had

the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him but she refrained from it instead looking down at her food.

It was quite delicious, she would have to thank the cook later.

She looked around the table, the king seemed to be deep in conversation with a man sitting to his left, she scanned over the seats until her eyes found Kristie

who was sitting right between Joshua and her mother.

She caught Kristie's eye and smiled, the girl waved and made a face at one of the advisors. Adelaide choked back a laugh.

She was surprised however when Kristie's mother - her sister in law- looked at her with the same mischievous smirk that her daughter had on her face.

She held up a napkin and Adelaide had to fake a cough to hide the chortle that escaped her. One of the advisors glared at her.

Kristie's mother had folded the napkin so that it was the perfect silhouette of the round long nosed advisor to her left.

Her cough had caught the attention of the prince who looked at her with confusion. She tilted her head towards his sister and he smiled widely.

_He has a nice smile._ She thought to herself, until he winked at her. She was stunned and confused, what had that been for?

Instead of answering her questioning look he took a napkin from the table and hid it underneath. She stared at him as his eyebrows knit in concentration.

She felt a small kick to her foot and she looked up to see him grinning at her. She put her hands under the table and she felt him place something on them.

She looked down to see that he had folded the napkin so that it was the shape of her face, in addition to that it even had cut marks on it from where he'd

torn it so that it fit properly.

She couldn't help but smile as she hid the napkin into the secret pocket in her skirt.

_Thank you_. She mouthed at him. His grin got even wider and she felt herself blush. Annoyed that he was able to make her blush, she sent him her flirtiest smile and winked. It was worth the courtiers scandalized reaction to see that his face had turned beet red.

He looked away from her, seemingly annoyed that she had won and she realized that she liked this kind of competition.

By the time dessert had come through Adelaide felt like she had probably made a name at court for the most scandalizing displays of affection towards her new husband. Though none of them had been for the reason that everyone probably thought they were for. She had realized that Tristan was probably just as competitive as her and they both were trying to find the most outrageous things to do to display their faux-affection.

It was when the giant chocolate cake came that they both started their competition. While Tristan had been an expert napkin folder, Adelaide took pride in her sculpting abilities so with the one slice of cake that she was allowed (since having two meant crossing the boundaries of propriety) she carefully sculpted out his smile to the side of her cake using her knife and spoon. The courtiers around her paid no heed but she did see Kristie looking at her curiously.

Then, she slid the cake towards him and he stared at it his face going from curious to astonished.

The prince hadn't been expecting something so amazing when she'd slid the cake towards him, he'd thought maybe she'd carved some letters into it but no, instead she'd carved a mouth into the side of the cake. It was breathtaking, and most of all it was the fact that it was his smile. She had sculpted it so perfectly that for a minute all he could do was stare at her.

He caught his sister's eyes and she looked confused along with Kristie who stretched her neck to see what could be on the cake.

After he was through the initial shock he dug his spoon into the uncarved part of the cake and ate it. Calling one of the manservants to bring a glass cover for the sculpted half.

She heard him and protested, "Tristan, I can make another one!" but he shook his head.

"No way, this is amazing, you most definitely cannot make another one." He shook his head and asked the manservant to take the cake to a place where it couldn't be ruined.

She shook her head at him, her lips pressed in a hard line. He wondered if she was annoyed with him but he didn't care. The cake had been so amazing, he just hoped he'd be able to find a way to keep it from being ruined.

"What other extraordinary talents do you have?" He asked, his voice filled with wonder at the girl sitting before him.

Her annoyance seemed to fade in a second as she accepted the flattery, "I guess you'll have to find out." She stated, but then as quickly as her smile had appeared it faded, replaced with the cold scared look that she had had when he'd first seen her.

The awkwardness ensued. He understood why she was scared, he was terrified as well. They were married, even though he'd enjoyed this one dinner of flirting and competition he was horrified. He was married to this woman that sat before him and until a few hours ago he hadn't even been able to call her

by her name.

Dinner passed slowly from then and the panic got even worse when the time came for them to leave. Both the Queen and the Prince rose from their seats, a handful of nobles congratulated them in their marriage and they headed to their rooms.

They weren't touching, and were separated by at least an arms length as they began the lengthy walk to their rooms. It was when they reached the door that Tristan realized that this was it. They were married.

He opened the door for her and they entered slowly.

Adelaide made a beeline for the washroom, only stopping to pull out one of her nightdresses from the closet as Tristan changed into a different set of pants and had just taken off his shirt when he heard a rustle of cloth behind him. Adelaide was sitting on the bed staring at him. Her hair was let loose and it was hanging down to her waist in curly brown locks.

He suddenly felt insecure, her eyes didn't waver for a second and he knew what she was staring at. The scar on his back.

Instead of commenting on it however she just turned around and went to sleep.

He stared at the bed not knowing what to do, should he sleep on the floor?

Adelaide turned around as if sensing his confusion. "Sleep on the bed, this side is mine." She said indicating to where she was sleeping and put a pillow in the middle to divide them. "And that side is your's."

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**If you've stuck this far into the story then please review! **

**It's going to start getting more interesting from here one I pinky swear :D!**


	7. Scheme

**6**

The next morning was incredibly uncomfortable for both of them. Adelaide woke up first, slipping out of bed as quickly as possible she scrambled to the bathroom. Hopefully Tristan wouldn't wake up until she was done with her bath, she knew the servants wouldn't be coming yet it was her wedding night.

They wouldn't be here until noon and they wouldn't be expecting her to leave until then either.

Peeling off her clothes she sunk into the warm water that had been laid out for her. It was scalding hot but her body grew used to it.

She sighed closing her eyes and massaging her body. She hadn't really been able to sleep properly at night, not with the knowledge that an almost complete

stranger was not one foot away from her. Sleeping in the carriage had been fine, it had no implications but she dreaded the night. She could never get used

to it.

She stepped out of the warm water, drying herself with her towel she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was in wet clumps and water droplets were

dripping out of them.

Suddenly she heard the bed creaking, prying her eyes away from her reflection she slipped into the soft green dress wondering if she'd be able to sneak out

and grab a breakfast without anyone seeing her.

She fingered her locket wondering if she could find a way to spend the entire day away from Tristan. She was terrified of him, he seemed nice and even

funny and she knew that in any other circumstance they would have probably been friends but not in this one.

In this one they were forced together and it made her want to shrink away. She peeked out of the washroom and saw that he was still asleep. He was

snoring softly and his blonde hair was mopped on top of his face.

He looked like a little puppy. She smiled inadvertently.

Making sure he was still asleep she put on her shoes and tip toed out of the room. The hallways were empty, something she was glad for. The sun had

barely risen and she knew that the whole castle with the exception of servants would still be sleeping. It had been odd for her the first time she'd visited this

castle that everyone slept so late, her parents had never let her sleep that late, it was improper back at home to wake up more than an hour after the

sunrise. And disrespectful.

The kitchen was loud and she tried her best to remain unnoticed as she made her way to the pantry. The cook was yelling at one of the servant girls who

had managed to spill an entire bag of flour on the floor.

She wondered if she should help clean it up but before she could do anything the girl had begun sweeping with one of the brooms.

She went over to where they had lain out the freshly baked croissants, her stomach growling she picked one up and bit into it. It was delicious.

"Hey!" She heard a voice from behind her, "What do you think you're doing?" She turned around to see the cook strutting towards her an angry look on her face.

"I-I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized, not knowing what to do with the croissant that she had bit off of. The cook just glared at her.

"That food is for the Royal! You can't ju-" but the woman was interrupted by the servant girl that was sweeping the flour of the floor.

"Ma'am…" The girl squeaked and the cook glared at her. "What Elle?" She snapped.

"Ma'am, thats the P-princess."The cooks facial expression completely changed, but not as Adelaide had expected, it went from furious to a stern motherly look.

"Your highness, what do you think you're doing here at this hour?" The woman asked.

Adelaide was surprised, "I-uh… I woke up early so I came here for food?" She smiled uncertainly.

The cook sighed muttering something about Lorraines waking up too early for their own good. "Thats alright Princess, just ask Elle if you need anything else." The cook said trudging off, yelling at a few of the servants around her.

The little servant girl looked up at her in what looked like awe, she smiled at her. "I don't need anything Elle, thank you though." She stuffed the croissant into her mouth and took an apple, she would go to the stables.

She had brought her stallion from Lorraine and she was sure that he'd made it by now. He wouldn't let anyone ride him but her or her family. She didn't trust anybody but herself to groom him and she found that she was glad for the Kyrian habit of sleeping in. This meant that she could traverse the castle without being disturbed.

She took a bite of her apple and whistled out the back gate of the kitchens.

The stables here were smaller than the ones at home, the people of Kyria weren't horsemen. She had heard about their metal horses that they used rather than real horses.

There were maybe forty stalls and a total of twenty horses. Twenty horses was nothing, especially for a castle teeming with rich noblemen and their wives.

She entered the stables looking for her stallion when she heard yelling from the other side of the stable.

"Down boy! I said down!" Taking another bite of her apple she walked over to where the sound was coming from.

It was an amusing sight, a tall lean man was struggling to keep a large bay from kicking him. She held back a giggle as she walked over towards them.

She didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to bother her arabian on the first day, but she guessed this demonstration would keep him from trying again.

She took the reigns as the man watched in awe.

"Is this your stallion milady?" The man bowed quirkily at her and she couldn't help but smile.

"Yes sir he is." She replied, softly petting her horse.

"Ah, he is a fine beast…" The man looked at the horse as if with approval.

"Yes, he is." She replied, placing a saddle on him, deciding that she could just take him out for a ride since he was already out of his stall.

"If I may ask milady, who may you be? I've never had the pleasure of meeting you."

She raised her eyebrows. "My name is Adelaide." She replied, lifting herself up to her stallion.

"Ah, pleasure to meet you your highness." He bowed politely but she noticed that he looked a little shocked.

"And who are you sir?"

"Ah, nobody your highness. I'm just a stableboy,"

"Well, Sir Stableboy, could you recommend me somewhere to ride to?" She asked.

The man grinned. "Of course your highness, have you ever been to the ocean?"

"No, I can't say I have,"

"Well then, if you follow the trail it leads to the coastline. It is very beautiful from there."

"Thank you," She waved and urged her stallion on.

The man stared as the princess rode off, whispering to himself, "She is no ice princess."

When Tristan woke up that morning the room was empty. The Adelaide side of the bed was clean and he saw her night gown hanging on the side of the closet. He had heard that Lorraines always woke up with the sun and he wondered where she'd gone off to.

He was glad that she was gone though because he would have hated the awkwardness that probably would have ensued if they'd awoken next to one

another. He trudged towards the washroom not knowing what to do for the rest of the day.

Maybe he would go to the ocean, he hadn't spoken to his mother in a long time and he knew that nobody would be missing him today. He wasn't expected

to be anywhere, his father had cleared his entire schedule for the next month so that he could 'get to know' his new wife. He understood why, the nobles

were expecting them to act like two in-love married couple and to do that they would have to stay as far away from everyone else as possible. They were

probably the opposite of what two really in love couple were, though last night's dinner had all the nobles convinced.

After washing up he put on his tunic and pants and walked out of the room, chugging the milk that had been lain out for him and taking with him a loaf of

bread.

He speed walked to the stabled, not really eager to walk all the way to the beach. He wondered for a second where Adelaide was but then decided that he really didn't care. Today was going to be his day, he would go to the beach and he would relax.

It took him maybe ten minutes to get to the stables and when he got there he saw Troy sitting on a barrel and grooming a large chestnut mare.

"Troy!" He called out finishing the last of his sandwich. The man turned around to look at him.

"How was your wedding night?" He asked a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Shut up." He growled ignoring the impetuous man.

"Where you going Tris?" The man called as Tristan went to saddle his horse.

"The ocean." He whistled a lively tune as he patted his mare down.

"So Tris, I heard dinner went really well last night." Troy began, "The servants couldn't stop talking about how 'in love' the new bride and groom were!"

Tristan ignored him, whistling even louder as the man went on to ramble about the gossip between the servants.

Once he was done saddling his horse he mounted and rode off, ignoring his friends' teasing remarks.

Troy grinned slyly as he watched his friend ride the same direction as the princess had an hour ago.


	8. Crabs like Spiders

**7 **

She stood next to the ocean, Atlas, her stallion stood beside her and she looked at the water. She had always wanted to visit the ocean, the last time she'd visited she hadn't come to the water.

"Atlas, do you want to go to the water?" She asked her stallion knickered nuzzling her with his mouth.

"I don't know Atlas," She said looking at the water, she felt like touching the ocean for the first time should have some meaning to it. She closed her eyes, feeling the warm breeze on her face and the sound of the waves lapping the shore.

The ocean was wonderful, there were many rivers and lakes in Lorraine but the ocean was magnificent. Atlas nudged her forward and she walked closer to the water, slowly letting the cold take her feet.

"Atlas! It's so cold!" She exclaimed running out of the water. The horse neighed, as if he was laughing at her.

"I don't have hooves like you you brute!" She scolded as she slowly tiptoed back to the water. She giggled when the water touched her feet and began splashing it around.

She spun around splashing the water, her skirt was pulled up to her knees and she had taken off her petticoat and put it in the saddle bag.

"Atlas," She gasped. "This is amazing!" She walked further into the water, enjoying the feel of the warm water on her legs. She had swum in lakes, but the ocean was different. There was something magical about it, it helped that the water was almost completely clear and she could see her feet.

She stayed in the water for only a few more minutes when she had an idea. Rushing to Atlas' saddle bag she pulled out a small shovel.

Kneeling on the ground she began shoveling out sand.

Tristan rode down the vast empty beach. Currently he was riding towards the small black dot in the middle of the expanse of sand. Out of curiosity than anything, he'd seen the figure rush into the water and then rush out.

He could tell now that it was a maiden, her hair was loose and she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the water. He watched with amusement as she went back to the water and let out a loud excited yell when the water touched her legs.

He slowed down his mare as he approached her, she was now sitting and rolling balls of sand and piling them atop one another.

His thought went back to his mother, she used to love sitting by the water and if not for the fact that the girl had black hair that was nothing like his mother's he would have thought that it was her sitting in the sand. As he approached the girl he recognized her. It was Adelaide.

He wondered if there was still time to turn around and head the other way, meeting her was the last thing he wanted but before he could do anything he caught her eye.

He saw her eyes widen as she saw him and she abruptly got up and dusted off her skirt which was soaked and filled with sand.

"Your High-Tristan!" She exclaimed and he wasn't surprised to see that she looked slightly disgruntled. "What are you doing here?"

"I-uh… I come here, a lot." He answered, his hand moving up to the back of his neck, this was so awkward.

"Oh… okay.." Adelaide fiddled with a shovel-like object in her hands.

"Well, have a nice day…" He said, turning to get back on his horse.

"Right, you too." She plopped back on the sand and continued making shapes out of the sand. He looked down at her poor attempt at making a sandcastle.

He wondered if she was planning on staying here all day and suddenly he felt slightly bad for her. They had both been forced to marry each other but she

had the worse end of the deal. She was stuck staying in a place far away from home for the next month.

"Thats not how you do it." He said, jumping off his horse smirking as the girl tried to sculpt the sand. She turned around and glared at him.

"Weren't you just leaving, your highness?" She asked, her voice cold.

He rolled his eyes at her, "The sand is too dry, to sculpt it you have to use the muddier stuff." He said kneeling down and brushing off the dry things.

"I'm not stupid!" She looked slightly annoyed and he resisted the urge to laugh as she pouted and slumped her shoulders. "I used the sand in the water."

"Yes, but you have to go deeper, the sand in the edge is barely wet." He sighed.

"Oh… Thank you."

He got up again, and before he could protest his mouth blurted out: "Doyouwantmetohelp?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Can you repeat that?"

"I said, Do you want me to help?" She looked at him, her eyes widening as she understood what he was saying. He silently prayed that she would say no, he was disappointed however when she gave him a smile and said yes.

"Oh okay," He felt awkward, he had offered to help but it was more out of reflex than actual desire.

She had no clue why she'd accepted his offer. The yes had just slipped out of her mouth, it was more out of habit than actual desire for help.

It was awkward at first, they just sat there while she tried to mold the sand with the mud that he had directed her to.

He'd gotten tired of that pretty fast and now they were both silently working on the same sand castle. She found that she was actually very comfortable

doing this in silence, there were no expectations of them and when they were both quiet and doing their own business there was no room for

awkwardness.

She could hear him softly whistling a quick paced tune that she found to be oddly familiar, she tried to think back to when she'd heard it when she

realized that she had been humming it along with him.

The prince looked up from the turret that he was sculpting.

"Do you know this tune?" He asked her.

"I suppose so, I don't remember how."

"Its a Kyrrian fishing song."

"A fishing song?" She asked. "Then how do you know it?" It didn't make sense for a king to know a common fishing song, she knew many songs that

the common people sang, but the ones she'd heard in the village when she'd snuck out.

He laughed, "I heard the soldiers singing it in the war."

"The war…" She looked back down at the sand. She'd forgotten, he'd fought in the war among all the common people. "How was the war?"

Her older cousin had fought in the war, she remembered, and he'd returned once for a week-long visit. He'd had nothing good to say about it, the second time he went he never returned. It was safe to say, she didn't have any good opinions of war either.

He didn't reply, she looked back up at him and saw that his eyebrows were knitted together in concentration.

"That turret really that hard to build?" She joked.

"No, the war, it was horrible. I saw men die, I even killed men but…" His eyes seemed to brighten. "I saw other things that taught me.. things."

She began to feel uncomfortable, the conversation was beginning to take a very personal turn and she tried to lighten the subject.

"Is that how you learned the tunes?" His face brightened up.

"Yeah, I did, the men there they used to sing. All the time." They talked the rest of the day.

He was actually not that bad to listen to and by the end of two hours she found that they could be good friends.

They had managed to build a small castle out of sand that didn't look completely miserable. Half of it looked like a dark and gothic mansion while the other had a pretty little drawbridge and spiraling towers. They had both decided that making sandcastles was something they should do separately and were now deep in the water.

"I've never seen a crab before!" She squealed in surprise as the prince put a giant red crab on her shoulder. "It has so many legs!"

He was laughing openly now and she squirmed holding her breath. "Tristan! Get it off me!" She was looking at the creature that was crawling up her neck and gulped.

"Tristan, stop get it off me!"

He laughed even harder clenching his stomach and throwing back his head.

"You said you weren't scared of spiders Milady!" He teased.

She glared at him. "I swear Tristan, I will rain hell upon you if you do not get this creature off! " She tried threatening but the man just looked at her in amusement. "Oh lord its pulling my hair!" She tried to pry it off with her own hands when Tristan stepped in to help her get it off.

"Thank you!" She sighed, running out of the water as soon as the crab had been taken off her person.

The boy just stood knee deep in the water laughing. He was still holding on to the crab and he bend down to put it where he had found it.

"You know crabs are practically water spiders." He called out to her, the girl just glared back. "I mean, they have a bunch of legs and they crawl." He wriggled his eyebrows and imitated a spider with his fingers. The girl just rolled her eyes at him.

"Its almost lunchtime," She began, dusting off sand from her dress that was completely soaked. "we should be heading back to the castle." The boy looked up from the water a small pout coming up on his face.

She looked at him, trying to put on a glare but his pout just made the edges of her mouth twitch up. His blonde hair was flopping into his eyes and she noticed that they were a startling shade of blue. The colour of the ocean made them stand out and she wondered if all Kyrrian people had eyes the colour of the ocean.

She thought back to the king, no, he had gray eyes, she'd noticed that once during one of her meetings. Tristan was walking towards her now, the put gone and replaced with a giant grin that showed off his sparkling teeth.

He was quite attractive.

"Fine…Lets go…" He walked up to her, nudging her with his shoulders and giving her a small but toothy smile.

She smiled back, and they walked up to the castle towing their horses behind them, bumping each other and grinning.


	9. Long Knives

**Okay so this chapter is like uber long to make up for the last few being under two thousand! Please review! Because if you do it just motivates me to finish faster! Enjoy!**

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**8**

They had walked into the castle together but had split up directly after entering. She had to go change, since her dress was completely soaked. She was a bit miffed that his clothes weren't that bad off since he'd been able to roll up his pants to above his knees.

She hiked up the stairs to her room, dusting off the sand in the hallway. Her dress was almost completely dry by now but the sand was all over it. She'd probably have to take a quick bath along with changing her clothes.

Tristain was probably eating right now, she envied that. Her stomach had been growling for the past hour, which was about how long it had taken them to walk up to the castle. On horseback it had only been about ten minutes though they had been walking very slowly.

She was glad that he was more aimable, at least they were friends. At least, she thought they were. She'd only known him for maybe a day. About Fifty hours, she counted in her head, a little more than two days though half that time she'd been asleep.

Loving him was a whole another matter, she shook that thought out of her head the second it entered. She had learned by now that thinking about frightening things would just ruin her day, and although she was glad they were friends (probably, on her side at least) the idea of him was scary.

She took a short bath and was standing in front of her closet laden in only a bathrobe when she heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" She called, wishing that they'd come just a minute later.

"Its me!" She heard the voice answer and her mouth lifted to a smile.

"Thats not a very good answer Eric." She called out.

"Addie can I come in?" the little boy asked.

"One second okay? I'll let you in." She quickly put on the shirt and leggings that she'd had out from the day before knowing that she'd have to get changed into it anyways if she was going to be playing with the little boy again.

"Addie!" The little boy hugged her.

She was surprised, Eric wasn't really the hugging and touching type of kid.

"Addie!" The kid looked distraught, "where were you? Kristie and I looked everywhere!"

She smiled kindly, "I was visiting the ocean," The kid looked up at her and a smirk appeared on his face.

"With Tristain?" He asked.

"No!" She replied, "Well, yes but I didn't go with him." She wondered when the kid had become so suggestive.

"Tristain always goes to the ocean." the kid remarked innocently. "When momma died he went there everyday."

She looked at the kid, wondering how he knew about when his mother died. He was just eight years old, and she knew the queen had died shortly after his birth. Maybe she'd been wrong.

"How was your mother like?" She asked. The kids face brightened up instantly.

"She was a mermaid!" She looked at the kid raising her eyebrows.

"A mermaid?" Eric was just messing with her.

"Eric, mermaids don't exist." but the kid didn't believe her.

"Yes, they do. Mother was one." He said it with so much conviction that she hesitated, _mermaids..._

"Alright then, maybe tomorrow we should go hunt for mermaids." She said grinning down at the eight year old.

"Okay… but they're gonna hide from us. We won't be able to find them."

She found it odd that the kid still believed in mermaids, he was eight years old, but then again, she was new to this world and maybe mermaids were some form of deity. That could be true since they were surrounded by water what better god than a water creature?

The kid led her to the training ground and she looked at in in awe. It was empty at the moment aside from a few children that were running around sparring

each other with wooden sticks. She knew why Eric had brought her here, the last time she'd visited she had promised to teach him sword tricks. Specially after she'd beat his uncle in a sparring contest.

The people in this country seemed to be surprised to see a woman fight, even more so than back at home. When she'd first learnt the art of swords her mother had been very apprehensive about it, worrying that she would permanently hurt herself. The worry had soon faded away after she'd proven that she was every bit as capable as a man. Well, almost, her upper body strength was no match for that of a highly trained knight however her speed and agility did more than make up for it.

"Will you teach me today?"He asked looking up at her.

"Of course." She replied. "Do you want me to demonstrate first?" She asked, eager to get her hands on a sword. She hadn't been allowed to go to the training arena for a month now, everyone had been worried that she'd end up hurting herself so she'd consented and sat out. She hadn't been expecting to be able to practice here however, the last time it had been just one spar and Eric's uncle had led her off the training arena saying that the knights probably wouldn't take it too kindly if a girl beat them. She'd taken the hint.

She'd taken out the long knives, her usual weapons and walked over to the dummy.

"Watch how I do it." She said, adding an extra hand to the stuffed sack that was her opponent. "this dummy has two knives as well, since you're a boy the best thing for you to use would be a long sword." She commented, "So back up a little and watch. Most men only know how to use the sword, everything

else they just wing." She added as she began her fight with the dummy. She could tell that the kid was amazed, she'd meant it to look impressive.

"Can you teach me?" He asked again and the girl grinned.

"Go to the weapons rack and choose something." She said.

"But, my trainer says that I should first be proficient with a sword." The girl shook her head.

"No, you should first be able to move your body, that has to be trained, and afterwards you can learn everything. I'm telling you to choose a weapon so that you can have fun while training." The kid grinned, running over to the weapons rack. It took him a while to choose, he pulled out almost everything and she

watched in amusement as he shifted through multiple terrifying looking blades. She knew that whatever he chose she would be able to train him properly for it. Her father had been giving her weapon's training since she'd learned how to walk.

It had only been when she'd turned sixteen that she'd chosen the long knives as her choice weapon. Of course, it had been obvious that she preferred it ever since the beginning, but when her father had first told her to choose she'd chosen a giant hammer.

When he'd finally arrived at a weapon she smiled, in his hands he held a sword, but with four edges. Tilting her head to the side she looked at it, it was a difficult instrument to manage and she wondered if the kid would be able to do it.

"Is there another one?" She asked, walking up and inspecting the sword he'd been holding, he ran to the shelf again and pulled out another identical sword.

"Okay little prince, take your stand." She said and turned towards the arena.

It was a long and grueling process, to teach him how to properly hold the sword and to teach him the stances. The prince seemed to be enjoying himself however, despite the fact that she wouldn't let him actually use the sword.

"Can I use it now?" He asked, widening his eyes and pouting his lips, she laughed. He made the same puppy dog face that Tristan had made when she'd yelled at him to get out of the water.

"No little prince, you may not. Not until you do this stance correctly." She demonstrated one more time, holding out the sword and balancing the weight between her two feet. The prince copied her wobbling a little.

"Why is this so different from my tutor's?" He asked her, and she shrugged.

"This is the way I was taught." was her only reply as she fixed the boy's stance.

"The reason you need to hold yourself like this is because this way you're balanced. Watch." She batted his sword and he shook in place but stayed.

"See?" The boy's eyes lit up.

"I stayed up!" She laughed as he jumped up and down. "Nowww can I learn to fight?" He asked.

"No, that was your stance. Now, we need to work on your agility." The boy rolled his eyes.

"Drop the sword." She ordered and he obeyed but not without complaint.

"But why can't I use the sword?" She didn't reply, instead she went to the dummy and showed him her reply.

Without a sword, she spun around kicking the dummy multiple times with multiple angles and when she stopped it was in pieces.

The little kid looked at her in awe.

"Now do you want to learn agility?" She asked and he nodded up and down dumbfounded. However, before she could begin the boy looked up again to

something behind her.

"Trist!" He cried running past her.

She turned to see Tristan swaggering down to meet them, an apple in hand. He had a confused look on his face and she felt his eyes brushing her body. She

blushed, remembering that she was wearing very form-fitting pants.

"Hello Eric, Adelaide." He nodded at her his eyes filled with curiosity.

"Eric, Melody wants you upstairs," he told the kid who slumped his shoulders and ran off to meet his sister.

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Tristan stared at the girl, needless to say he was surprised. She held a four edged sword in her hands, and a few seconds ago he'd seen her use it with the utmost skill. She was quite amazing.

"You fight?" He asked, trying not to sound condescending. Most men would have probably found this to be odd and unattractive but he thought this was amazing.

The girl looked at him, a small frown appearing on her face. "Yes," she answered her voice guarded. He wondered if she was used to people telling her

not to. "do you have a problem with that?"

He tried to put the most sincere smile on his face as he asked, "Is that your choice weapon?" He asked, he'd never seen a woman wielding a four edged sword. Those were usually too heavy, the girl smirked at his question.

"No," of course he thought, wondering what her choice weapon actually was. "But I can wield it better than most."

There was a challenging glint in her eyes and he knew she was asking for him to duel her. He grinned, she may have been able to beat most men in duels but he wasn't most men. He had always been an avid dueler and it had been a while since he'd gone up against an opponent that stood a chance. The

knights in his father's were all amazing, good enough that he would have to be at his top game to fight them but still, it wasn't as enjoyable when he knew what the outcome of every match would be.

The girl raised her eyebrows as if she could hear his thoughts. He picked up the four edged sword that Eric had left on the floor and held it out. Bowing to his opponent, she did the same in return and they slowly circled each other.

Her eyebrows were knitted in concentration, she stared at his feet. That was the first mistake she made, at least, to him that was a mistake.

She was also the first to strike, which he thought unwise. Being the first to strike put you on offensive and since she was a woman her physical strength truly would not be great enough for her to hold him off. As he had assumed she began tiring very quickly and he was able to push her back.

He had her cornered to the wall and he wondered why it had been so easy. He had really thought that she would have put up more of a fight, she had literally no way out of the corner unless she were to fly out of there.

He raised his sword to disarm her when he caught the smirk on her face. Why was she looking so satisfied if she was going to lose?

He watched as she leaned on the wall jumpin off and somersaulted above him. Before he could even think about turning around she slid her legs under his and threw him of balance.

His sword flew out of his hand and he was barely able to catch himself as he fell.

She had won.

He couldn't help but grin at her, her face was flushed and she seemed to be looking at him critically.

She felt herself let out a breath that she hadn't even know she was holding when he smiled at her. This was probably the first time a man had smiled after

losing to her. Normally they threw unattractive fits or said something derogatory.

Instead, he smiled and bowed to her as if she were any other opponent.

"What, pray tell, is your choice weapon?" He asked looking flabbergasted. "I haven't been beaten in a match for many years."

She smiled. "Me neither." She winked and then added, "Long knives."

His breath hitched at her wink, and he felt his smile grow even wider.

"Want a rematch?" She asked walking over to the weapons stand putting both her sword and his on the shelves she pulled out two long knives.

"What's your weapon?" She asked cocking her head and twirling the knives between her fingers. He was entranced by the blades movement, _how did she _

_do that without cutting herself?_

"Arrows." He answered. "But we can't exactly duel with arrows."

She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look. "Of course we can."

"No… we really can't." He replied, what was she expecting him to do? Use arrows like a sword?

She smiled tossing the bow towards him and taking out a few arrows from the basket.

"Yes, we really can." She sighed.

"How?"

She walked across the courtyard until she was directly in front of him. "Shoot at me."

"No!"

"Yes! Just shoot!"

"No! I'll kill you!"

"No they won't! I know what I'm doing."

"Yes I'm aware of that but we can't take that kind of a risk!" He couldn't believe she was being so irresponsible.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not an idiot, the arrows aren't sharp, the worst they can do is bruise me a little." She replied and sure enough the arrows had a blunt and flat wooden end with cloth tied around it to make it soft.

He didn't even know they had these.

"They're for lighting up and burning." She answered and he wondered if she could read his mind.

He pulled back on the stirng and wondered how she would be able to deflect them with her knives. She'd have to be able to see them first to deflect them.

She was looking at him again and when he let go of the arrow she heard a loud clang as it flew away from him and hit one of her knives. _She'd done it!_

"More." She called grinning. And he did so, quickly shooting arrow after arrow, she deflected each one. Once he ran out he brought out a giant basket of them and kept on shooting. The men were beginning to come out now, and there was a crowd around them by the time the arrows in the basket had run out. She had begun deflecting the arrows at angles that kept them from hitting people, but now it was getting more and more difficult. Finally, one stray arrow bounced off something and grazed her shoulder.

It had been one of the wooden ones but she felt it chafe off the top few layers of skin. She flinched and the prince saw.

He stopped shooting, walking over to her.

"I'm fine!" She called but he ignored her. "Seriously, it just grazed my skin a little." She answered.

"We should probably be heading back anyways." He answered, his arms had begun to get sore and the girl nodded. Helping pick up the arrows that were

scattered around the courtyard. Thankfully, they'd all fallen close to one another so it only took a few minutes to put them back. The men helped as well but were staring in awe at Adelaide.

She ignored them, walking over to Tristan when the courtyard had been cleaned.

"Let me see the wound." He said pushing away her hair. She stood stiffly, her face beginning to redden as she felt his closeness.

His breath was warm on her skin and she avoided looking at his face. Instead she stared at the people around them who were still staring at her. Not even trying to hide the stunned expression in their faces. Of course, they probably realized who she was by now since th

e prince looked like he was about to kiss her.

He pulled away soon, looping his arms around hers, "We need to go to the kitchens and put some warm water on that." He said and she nodded unable to

look away from the men that were still staring at her. She edged a bit closer to him.

"Don't worry, they're just amazed by you." He answered her fears.


	10. Friendship Buds

**Yeah this chapter is horribly short but that's just because it's kind of a filler chapter, the next one will be nice. The romance will finally start! I really hope you guys enjoy this! Please review!**

**I have SATs in a week so this is kind of a stress reliever, which means that I'll probably write a LOT or I'll write nothing. **

**But hey, the more the reviews the more motivated I will be to write! **

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**9**

They were alone in the kitchens, lunch had come and gone and the kitchen maids and cook were having their lunch. Nobody wanted to stay in the stuffy confines of the kitchen, especially not in a day so warm.

"It's really not that bad." She insisted as Tristan opened a shelf filled with cloth.

"Yes it is, just because it doesn't hurt right now doesn't mean that it wont later." He admonished. She sat on the tables waiting as he soaked the cloth with boiling water.

"This is going to sting a little." He warned as he placed the cloth on her shoulder. She let out a squeak.

"It hurts!" The prince rolled his eyes.

"I know, I just said it would." She groaned aloud.

"Thank you mother." She told him and he laughed.

"Just because I know what to do with your wound doesn't mean I'm your mother."

"Oh, did I hurt your manly pride?" She asked. He just laughed in return.

"Yes fair maided, how am I to ever recover from this injury!" He put his hand on his forehead and cried out.

She giggled, forgetting about the scorching piece of cloth on her shoulder.

"Where did you learn it?" She asked, most men didn't know how to bandage wounds properly, it was a skill they left to women.

"I went to war remember?" He said, "if a man couldn't do a women's job then he would die along with all of his comrades."

Although what he said was serious, he said it with an open tone, even smirking at the end. "So, can you cook as well?" She asked.

His eyes lit up. "Hush, don't tell anyone." He replied, turning over the wet cloth on her shoulder. She held her breath, it hurt.

"Really? Can you?" She asked and as if on cue her stomach growled loudly. She hadn't had lunch yet.

He grinned. "Would you like me to prove it to you?" He asked.

She grinned. "That, good sir, would be wonderful."

And that was what the prince did. In between fixing her shoulder he also made her an omlette. She couldn't help but watch in amazement as he cut onions and tomatoes skillfully and fried an egg.

It didn't take long for him to finish, the kilt was already lit and all he had to do was place the omlette inside, and she happily scarfed down the food.

"This is so amazing!" She said, her mouth full, the prince just looked at her amused. She seemed to be so comfortable just standing up and stuffing food into her mouth. He felt more relaxed as well just watching her impropriety.

He was sure that if any of the ladies saw her eating like this they wouldn't stop gossiping about it for days.

"How could you cook so well?" She asked.

"What, because I'm a man?" He asked scoffing.

She grinned. "Exactly, its like how can I fight so well?" The prince smiled.

"Maybe we're both just different." He acknowledged, her face tinted red and his did as well just seeing her blush. A wave of awkwardness rolled past them but it went away the second she finsihed the omlette.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to eat omlette made by anyone else ever again!" She sighed. He blushed at the compliment.

She put the plate on the table and slid off. "Sir, you are amazing." He couldn't help but think the same of her.

They didn't stay long in the kitchen after eating, he had rolled a piece of cloth around the wound on her arm despite her protests that she was fine and they were walking to their rooms when they came across Melody, Tristan's sister.

"Tris!" The woman cried, "I haven't seen yyou since-" She stopped short seeing that he was with Adelaide. Her eyes widened as she scanned over Adelaide and she blushed realizing what was to come. Melody would probably schold her for her choice of clothes, she could already feel a headache coming on.

Instead, the woman just smiled and gave her a nod. "Adelaide! Thank you so much for agreeing to teach Eric! He hasn't stopped talking about you! The woman gushed.

Adelaide just smiled and gave a light curtsy.

The woman turned back towards her brother. "Father wanted me to tell you to show Adelaide around but I guess you already are so thats not a problem." She smiled. "Its nice seeing you again Adelaide." The woman nodded and headed off.

"Your father wanted you to show me around?" She asked.

"He's just trying to play matchmaker."

"Well we're already married so whats the point?"

He shrugged. "Father is always scheming."

She smiled and they walked to their rooms. She quickly scurried to the washroom, taking with her a soft pink dress.

It had been a wedding gift from Adelaide, she had made it herself and it was designed in a way that it looked like a dress but gave her full mobility. She was planning on convincing Tristan to show her one of the secret passageways for her. There were quite a few at home but she was eager to do something here.

She came out of the washroom to find him sitting on the bed waiting for her.

"Where to next Princess?" He asked and she smiled.

"Show me the secret passageways." She demanded.


	11. Chocolate Cake and Scars

**I hope you guys like this! The last chapter was super short and sadly this one isn't that long either. Though, definitely not that short. Please if you love it then REVIEW!**

**Re**

**Vi**

**Ew 3**

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**10**

It had been a month since she'd been married, she had found the castle to be like a home. She and Tristan had become fast friends. They even went to the ocean together every morning.

After he'd shown her the secret passageway from their room to the water she had been estatic. It led to a cave right next to the shore, and that part of the beach was completely close off so that only they could reach it.

The nobles all thought that they were completely in love, and it helped that they acted enough like it. Both of them would be gone all morning, until lunch, enjoying the ocean and when the kitchen was empty they would cook and make lunch for one another.

She had also replaced Eric's tutor and was now teaching him how to use the four edged sword. Some of the knights would help demonstrate and she would in turn teach them some of her tricks. In a month she had garnered the respect of most of the inhabitants of the castle. Word was also reaching to the people of the country that their new princess was kind and strong and her popularity had apparantely soared.

There were still a few that disliked her, she had noticed, some of the noblewomen refused to speak to her and she had heard some mutter 'barbarian' under their breaths as she walked by. It didn't matter however, because they dared not speak their opinions aloud.

Today, she was sitting in the kitchen, applying cream to the cake that she and Tristan had baked. The kitchen was bustling with servants and Tristan had had to leave for a private meeting with his father right after they'd put the cake in the oven.

It was a small cake and she had finally finished putting the last touch to it when Kristie entered.

"Addy!" The girl screamed, she looked up from her cake, frowning.

"What?"

"Guess what! Guess what!" The girl had a look of pure excitement on her face.

"What?" Adelaide asked turning away and cutting a sliver out of the cake.

"No! Guess!" Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"I don't want to." She stated.

"Fine. I'll tell you." The girl was shaking from head to toe with excitement. "We're having a ball!"

Adelaide scrunched up her nose. "Why?" She loved balls, but right now it just got in her way. This was the longest break from work she had gotten in forever and she knew that having a ball just meant talking to people that she didn't want to speak with at all.

"For The Queen's birthday." Adelaide looked up.

"The Queen?" She asked, "What Queen?"

"Queen Ariel." The girl said.

"B-but... Queen Ariel is dead." Adelaide replied, why were they having a huge ball for someone that had died two years ago?

"I know, but every year The King has a ball in honor of her. She loved dancing."

"Oh." That was all she could say. She knew the ball would be important for Tristan, on all their trips to the ocean he had brought his mother up at least once. She had loved the ocean.

That was all she knew. Also, that she'd drowned while swimming in the ocean.

"Can I have some cake?" Kristie asked, taking out a slice. Adelaide smacked her hand away.

"Its for Tristan!" She said. Kristie rolled her eyed.

"You two make food everyday, the least you can do is share." Adelaide laughed.

"Fine, but take two, give one to Eric." She ordered and the girl smiled taking two slices and running off.

She carefully cut out one big slice and put it on a plate. Chocolate cake was Tristan's favourite and she hoped he would like it. Though, he had helped make it.

According to him, baking was the most difficult thing to do, ever. She disagreed though, she loved baking. It was everything else that was hard.

"Elle," she called to the kitchen girl that was sweeping the floor. "Elle, you can have the rest of the cake okay?" She told her.

The girl always stayed in the kitchen when they were cooking, she helped them clean up and they always gave their leftovers to her.

She always looked starved, and Adelaide had looked into her family. The cook had told her that the girl came from a well-to do family out of town. Her stepmother had apparantely signed her up to work here and make extra money.

It hadn't been a problem with her family being poor but abusive, however every time she asked Elle if she was being hurt at home the girl would deny it vehemently.

The girl smiled at her now as she gave her the entire rest of the cake. She knew the girl would probably give it to some of the beggars in the town but it made her feel better to give her things as much as possible.

"I want to see you eat one slice before you go." She commanded and the girl smiled sheepishly taking out one small slice and stuffing it in her mouth. She scurried off quicly after swallowing and Adelaide picked up the plate and headed out of the kitchen.

She was planning on putting the cake in her room and then going out for a ride. She usually went out during the night, right after dinner, and didn't come back until Tristan was already asleep. Riding in the sand was fun and Akoush, her stallion, loved the water.

She tapped on the door before entering, just in case Tristan was changing. She walked to the dressing table, her jewlery was sprawled out across it. Kristie must have come in and borrowed something again, she thought as she cleared it off to place her plate on it.

She heard a sound behind her and turned to see a body on the bed. It was Tristan, he must have fallen asleep again.

His body was sprawled across the bed and she saw the giant scar on his back. How had he gotten it?

Ever since the first time she'd seen it she'd wanted to know, it was an odd shaped scar. She'd never seen anything like it, it wasn't something you got from being struck by a sword. It looked like a clawmark. Parts of it were deeper than the rest and she walked closer to him.

Sitting on the bed she stared at the scar. The rest of his back was also filled with small scratches and bruises that he had probably gotten from just practicing. Maybe even some from her, but the giant scar was different. In the middle it was deep purple, while the rest of it was a pretty light pink.

She had the urge to touch it and as she involuntarily raised her hand she heard a knock on the door. She quicly got up.

"Who is it?" She asked.

"Adelaide! Its Melody, may I come in?" She heard.

"Yes, of course!" She called back and moved away from the sleeping Tristan.

Melody was really beautiful, that was the first thing she'd ever noticed. She had dark red hair and brilliant green eyes, while Tristan was blonde with ocean blue eyes and Eric was brunette with brown eyes. Her face was different from both brothers, Tristan and Eric both had sharp angular features but Melody had a round sweet face.

She had heard that Melody was the striking image of her mother. She had never seen an image of her, Queen Ariel, she had asked Tristan but all he'd said was that she hated portraits. Apparantely they terrified her so she'd never posed for one.

"I think Kristie informed you about the ball?" Melody asked. Adelaide nodded.

"Yes, she seemed incredibly excited." Adelaide had always liked Melody, she acted very familiar and motherly.

"She loves balls." The woman said fondly, "but the reason I came here was because of the list of guests."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"We were thinking that we should invite your brother and Lady Carla Maria and her husband Sir Rowan. I understand they're good friends of yours?" Adelaide could feel her face breaking into a smile.

"Could we?" She asked, excitement beginning to rise inside her.

"Of course! It will be done right away, I'm sure you miss them terribly." Adelaide felt her smile getting bigger and bigger.

"When is the ball?" she asked, she hadn't even known when it was.

"In one week from today." The woman answered, Adelaide nodded.

"Yes, thank you!" She curtsied at the woman before her.

"Well then, I'll leave you to it." Melody gave her a warm smile and left the room. Adelaide felt a shiver of happiness go through her. She couldn't wait!


	12. Tears

**Such quick updates, I know! But now thime to study for SATs D:**

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11

The next week went by in a flurry. She had barely enough time for anything in between choosing a dress for the ball and listening to Kristie go on and on about what she wanted on her hair. She wondered if she'd been like this when she was twelve, no, she'd been way more into making bets with her father on which knight would win which joust.

Of course balls were very exciting for her as well, she would spend hours trying on dresses with her mother and the court ladies but spending days and days on deciding what to put on your head seemed a bit extreme.

"Just wear the tiara." Adelaide groaned out loud in the most un-princess like manner possible. Melody gave her a look.

"Adelaide is right Kristie, just choose something." Even her mother agreed, Adelaide resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Kristie took off the hairclip and put on the tiara.

"But does it look good with my hair?" she asked.

"Yes, Kristie, everything looks good." Adelaide put her hands in her head. Both her and Melody had already picked out their dresses and everything. They were just waiting for Kristie to be done.

The ball would be in one hour and the girl hadn't shut up.

It was then that she realized something, Melody's age, she seemed so young. Too young to have an twelve year old daughter. She felt like it would be rude to ask and she wondered if she could ask Tristan about it later.

Melody couldn't be any more than twenty-five, but that would mean that she'd had Kristie when she was thirteen.

It was possible, but she didn't think so.

After an hour, when they were already quite late to the ball Kristie decided on the tiara and they made their way down to the ballroom. Adelaide's heart was hammering in her chest, she would be seeing her brother and Carla and Rowan, they were arriving straight to the ball and she just wanted to sprint down and meet them.

The hallway seemed too long, and she power walked down, both Kristie and Melody struggling to keep up.

It felt like it had taken forever for them to reach the ballroom, and as they descended the stairs her eyes landed on her little brother. He would be fifteen in a few days and she was glad that she would be able to spend it with him.

He grinned up at her and waved, she waved back eager to give him a hug. She scanned the room again where she saw Rowan and Carla deep in conversation. They looked up as if feeling her gaze and waved at her. Her face broke into a large smile.

The second her feet left the stairs she rushed over to her brother, giving him a large hug. "Addie!" The boy cried hugging her back tightly.

When they pulled apart she felt tears in her eyes. "Oh lord Addie, are you crying?" The boy asked.

"No, shut up. I'm not." The boy laughed.

"Oh Addie, I missed you too." she felt a tug at her sleeve and saw Kristie who's eyes were plastered on her brother.

"Kristie!" The girl gave an overly sugary smile. "Leo this is Kristie, my niece, Kristie, this is Leo, my brother."

Kristie gave a small curtsy. "Nice to meet you Prince Leo."

Her brother smiled back politely, "Nice to meet you too Lady Kristie. I hope you've been taking good care of my sister."

Kristie blushed. Something clicked in Adelaide's mind and she couldn't help but grin miscieviously. Her little brother obviously didn't see Kristie as anything but a little girl but Kristie's blush told all.

"Excuse me you two," She said, "I'm going to go greet Rowan and Mouse." Her brother just shrugged but Kristie gave her a grateful smile.

She then glided across to where Rowan and Carla were, they were talking to Tristan who had a large smile on his face. They all turned towards her as she approached and Tristan put his arms around her shoulder.

"Wow, I feel like I haven't seen you in days." He winked. She rolled her eyes.

"You haven't seen me in days. I've been locked up in Kristie's room helping her choose what to wear." Tristan laughed his eyes twinkling and she found herself staring.

"Oh Addy I missed you so much!" Mouse dove at her giving her a bone crushing embrace. Tristan's arms slid off her shoulder and she hugged her back.

"I missed you too!" She cried, laughing a little. She looked past her and to Rowan who gave her a small crooked smile.

"She really did miss you, she wouldn't stop complaining about it." she felt Tristan move away from beside her. She pulled away from Mouse just as Tristan gave her a nod and a smile before he walked away.

The music in the room had started and she stood there confused. Why had he left?

As if noticing her confustion Lord Rowan clarified, "He said he had to check on something important."

Adelaide nodded, but something felt odd. She felt as if she should be following him. Rowan led Carla to the dance floor and she smiled politely until they were gone, then, she followed Tristan.

He walked past the ballroom and up the servant's steps. She followed quicly behind glad that she had decided to wear her cloth shoes rather than the loud heels that Melody had suggested.

He walked up the stairs and made a short right turn. She tried her best to be quiet, he didn't turn around.

She followed him through the halls until he finally stopped at a large painting of the ocean. She hid behind a suit of armor as he looked around, her breath sounded loud.

Then, he pushed aside the painting to reveal a giant hole in the wall which he walked through. She counted to twenty before following him into the tunnel.

It was dark inside, and she could feel her heart hammering even louder, she was terrified of the dark. It had been something she'd avoided since she was a small child.

She could hear his footsteps as she walked faster. She didn't care if he found her anymore, the dark was freaking her out and she rushed to get out of it. She could see nothing in front of her and she put her arms out to guide her way.

She could hear things moving around her, and her own footsteps made her jumpy. She felt something wet touch her neck and she tried to scream but realized that she couldn't get out a sound.

Her chin was trembling and her heart was hammering but she kept walking. There was no way to turn back now, and her curiosity overpowered her fear. It really did seem like hours had gone by when she walked out of the cave. The moon was high in the sky and she felt a huge relief to be out of the deathly darkness.

The sound of water could be heard and she walked past the rocks and into the beach. It was the same beach that led to her chambers, so there was another secret entrance. She scanned the area finally spotting Tristan sitting on some rocks next to the water.

She walked slowly up to him. His body was trembling and as she walked closer she could hear him speaking.

"Mother, come back..." His voice was soft and pleading. She felt a dull ache in her heart hearing his voice. "We need you mother," she felt her body move towards his.

He was hunched over and she could see the light reflecting off the tears in his cheeks. This was something private, personal, and she knew that under most circumstances she would have just stood there or left. But she couldn't. She couldn't leave him in the edge of the water, slowly she found herself putting her arms around his shoulder.

His trembling stopped. She massaged his back softly and just held him. He stopped pleading, instead she felt his head on the crease of her neck. His tears falling freely on her skin.

They stayed there for hours, his tears had stopped but they sat next to each other looking at the ocean, not speaking a word.


	13. Love May Be Possible

**Okay it's monstrously short again, but oh well. Have fun reading it!**

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**12**

"Thank you." She thought she heard him say before they both made their way back to the castle. The moon was in the middle of the sky and it was late.

She realized that the tunnel was less scary now that she was with Tristan; he was holding her hand. His hands were warm and they fit perfectly with hers.

Nobody noticed them when they entered the ballroom, she was still holding Tirstan's hands, his fingers intertwined with her's, she didn't want to let go. He didn't seem to want to either, although she felt his hands loosen on her's she held on even more tightly.

He gave her a small smile and she leaned her head on his shoulders.

"Can we dance?" She asked, pulling him into the dance floor without waiting for a reply. She felt her heart warm up as Tristan followed her with an amused expression. It was a fast song and she let him twirl her around repeatedly.

"You really enjoy this don't you?" He asked her, a laugh in his voice.

She twirled around the ballroom with him in tow and he could see the looks that everyone was giving them. The ballroom was being cleared off, mostly because they all wanted to watch.

"You really enjoy this don't you?" He asked, she didn't seem to notice her surroundings at all.

"Of course I do. Don't you?" She asked, her body moved back towards his and they were slow dancing now. He could see his father waving at the band and he grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" She asked, her arms were wrapped around his neck and her face was maybe an inch away from his.

"I just am." He answered shrugging. she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, I wish they'd play something faster. I want to dance."

"We are dancing." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is the romantic falling in love kind of dance. I want to have fun."

"Falling in love can be fun." He retorted. Her face reddened.

"How would you know?" She murmured.

"I don't," He answered, he could feel himself blushing but he continued. "But I've heard it is."

"Me too." She answered and her face suddenly brightened. He could hear his heart beating; her face was positively glowing.

"Like Lord Rowan and Mouse?" He asked using the nickname she used for her friend. She nodded.

"Yes, you should have seen them before they were married. It was hilarious." He raised his eyebrows and she continued. "Rowan was way too shy to talk to her and he always came off as kind of a brute. She despised him."

"Did she now?" He asked. "I can't imagine them ever not being in love."

"He used to be very attractive, physically." She said, he looked over to where Lord Rowan was, the scars marring his face. "It was after that that she loved him."

"That's beautiful." He saw Lady Carla get on her tiptoes and kiss Lord Rowan on the cheeks before moving towards the refreshment tables.

"Yes, they're beautiful." She sighed and he felt her head on his chest. People were beginning to move to the dance floor again and he put his arms around her waist as they rocked slowly back and forth. In a month they had become really good friends and it was only tonight that he felt something different when he looked at her.

Ever since she'd followed him to the water.

He had been about to walk in, just like his mother had two years ago until she'd come. He buried his head in her hair. She smelled like jasmines.

"Do you think we'll fall in love?" She asked the question that had been in his mind since the day they'd been bethrothed. He didn't know how to answer because at that moment falling in love with her seemed to be the easiest thing to do. He wondered if she felt like this.

"We will." He answered and he felt her snuggling even closer to him.

"Okay." She replied. He felt like laughing, it was odd how she could ask the most awkward questions so simply.

"You always laugh at everything I say." He heard her complain.

"I wasn't laughing." He protested.

"You were about to."

"How do you know?"

"Because you always laugh."

"You just reasoned around in a circle."

"Will you laugh again?" She asked looking up at her. He grinned.

"I'll always laugh at what you say." He answered.

"Because I'm hilarious."

"Yes, you should have been born a jester."

"I'm the queen of jesters." She replied, resting her head on his chest again.

He sighed.

"Then I'm their King?"

"Yes, but you're not very funny." she answered.

"Its okay, you're funny enough for the both of us."

"Yeah, I guess I am." She grinned and they went on dancing. The slow songs came to an end soon enough and she went back to the excited dancing.

Her face glowed when she danced, that was the first thing he noticed. When she smiled, because that was what she did most of the time, it took up her entire face. Her eyes would twinkle and her eyebrows would be raised. The shape of her entire face would change. His mind went back to her question, _Do you think we'll ever fall in love?_

At the moment he was sure they were on their way to falling in love. He couldn't imagine anyone not being able to love someone like her, she brightened up everything.

He used to think she was a block of ice, but she was more like a crackling flame.

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**Crackling flame? Aww! Yeah the chapters are really short, I feel like I should start spending more time on them so yeah... also be sure to check out my other stories! I'm totes going to update those too!**

**Okay but really shoutout to ****_Destiny's Child_**** for so many reviews! Seriously dude, I love that you love this, and your reviews really keep me going! **

**REVIEW**

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**REVIEW Please! Thnx! 3**


	14. Hangover

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER! And this chapter isn't that climactic or anything but I've been crazy busy! I pinky swear i'll be updating! **

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13

She woke up the next morning with her legs and arms completely sore. A servant must have opened the curtains because she could feel warmth on her face.

There was something wrapped around her abdomen and she felt something warm covering her entire back. It wasn't the blanket.

It really wasn't the blanket, she squeezed her eyes shut trying to wish the arm that was wrapped around her away.

She wanted it to go away, didn't she? She felled the body press against her and she coud feel his breath on her neck. Goosebumps erupted on her arms. Not the bad kind of goosebumps either.

She was too afraid to move because if she did he might awaken but if she didn't then she would be stuck here. Until he woke upof course, and decided to move himself.

While waiting she began thinking, overanalyzing actually, like she always did. They had danced all night, and she knew that she was slowly growing feelings for him. That was a good thing, but, if it was why was she so afraid

She knew the answer, of course she was afraid. Everyone would be afraid, falling in love was scary. That was what was happening to her, she wondered if it was happening to him too.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt his arms slowly move out, "Shit." she heard.

She felt the weight move off of her body, then the bed.

Tristan had woken up and she held her breath until she heard him fill up the bathtub. She quickly got out of bed and slipped out of the nightgown she had put on.

A dress had already been laid out for her and she rushed out of the room after putting it on. She wouldn't be going to the beach today, her feet still hurt from all the dancing. The rest of the castle was still asleep despite the fact that it was noon. Though, she had gone to sleep way earlier than them. Her and Tristan had dissappeared, mostly because they'd been completely exausted not because of... other things... that the rest of the people had expected them to be doing.

She went to the library, mostly nobody went there except sometimes the king- though he had his own study filled with books.

Sometimes she'd find Ella, the young maid hiding behind a shelf pouring over some book or another.

The little prince sometimes would read there as well but she knew he wasn't there today. She would be all alone, he was out with Kristie touring the capitol city which was just a twenty minute carriage ride. Her brother had gone with them, he'd told her he would be before she'd left the ball with Tristan.

Her face flushed thinking of Tristan and the night before. The sadness she'd seen in him and the way he'd felt in her arms. Just the thought sent her heart racing.

She shook her head and tried to think of other things as she slunk through the hallways.

When she entered the library it wasn't empty, instead the small servant girl, Elle was sitting on the floor reading a giant book tears streaming down her face.

"Elle!" She kneeled down next to the girl, wondering what could have made the child so sad. "Are you okay?"

The little girl shook her head sniffling loudly.

"Ella, dear why are you crying?" She asked.

"M-my s-stepmother." The girl hiccuped and began sobbing openly into Adelaide's arms.

"What did she do child?"

The little girl looked at her looking frightened her eyes suddenly widening. "Nothing." She answered. "She didn't do anything!"

The girl got up and sprinted out of the room leaving Adelaide staring behind her confusedly. She was worried for the child having heard the servant gossip about the abuse at her home. She wondered if there was any way to find out for sure without raising the girl's suspicions. She seemed very guarded about her family life. Sighing she sat down on one of the soft chairs and picked up a book.

Tristan had been horrified when he'd woken up that morning, there had been a girl in his arms. A very beautiful girl that smelled like jasmines but he'd been to nervous to think about any of that. He'd seen her eyes open in alarm and then smash shut when she'd realized the position they were in. He had counted to five waiting for her body to relax before moving out of the bed and rushing to the bath.

She was awake, of course he knew that and by the time he was done with his bath she had left the room.

His face flushed just thinking about her. Last night. She had been with him, when he'd snuck out. He had cried, in front of her and she'd stayed with him. She had made him forget, when they'd gone back, dancing like his mother would do whenever he'd be sad.

Her joy had leaked into him and he'd been able to enjoy his mother's birthday unlike every other year.

And then she'd asked him about falling in love, and he rememebred how he'd felt then. Of course, they weren't in love but he felt things for her that were very close to love.

He felt things enough that thinking about the night before made him want to find her and spend the rest of the day with her.

Possibly the rest of his life.

But he was scared, what if she didn't feel the same way? What if she didn't want to see him? She had left the second he'd woken up, but that was probably because of the awkwardness. Wasn't it?

He felt like his brain would explode with what-ifs. So he went to the stables. If anything, she would be at the ocean. Though, aside from the first week he hadn't really seen her much, especially the last week his duties as prince had finally started and she had been busy managing foreign affairs of her country.

They had a two months left before she would be going back to Kyria and he would have to go with her. The Kyrian court was famed for its familiarity and he knew that in comparison to the unfriendliness of the nobles in Kyria to Adelaide Lorraine would probably be much better towards him.

He was nervous however, because he would have to be next to dormant in the castle, she was the queen and he was just the king consort. He had no power there, and although he could help her in the ruling of the kingdom he would have no power. It was not something he was used to being the oldest son in his family.

Despite the fact that his younger brother was crown prince he had the power and his say mattered in Lorraine, in Kyria it would mean nothing. At least, that was what he thought.

He'd always found it odd that the Lorraine's were so adamant about having the oldest child not the oldest son as the ruler. They'd had a female ruler for the past century. Kyria was different.

It took him no time to get to the stables using the hidden passageways. Troy was tending to the horses when he came, there was a pretty redhead with him. Marley, his... well Tristan didn't know what to call her because Troy refused to propose to her. She was the butcher's daughter and his best friend had always felt like she could have done better. At the moment she was grooming a tall bay stallion he recognized as Adelaide's. The creature only cooperated with a woman's touch, he had realized this the hard time when he'd tried to get on it despite Adelaide's warning.

The horse had slowy warmed up to him, although it wouldn't let him ride it it didn't shy away from his touch.

"Tristan!" His friend, Troy called when he saw him.

"Troy! Marley!" He greeted.

"Hello your highness," Marley curtsied winking at him mischeviously. She knew he hated unnecessary formalities.

"H-has Adelaide been here?" He asked feeling his face redden as he saw the look Troy gave him.

"Oh, did she finally realize how horrid you are and run away?"

"Shut up Troy." Marley groaned. "No, she hasn't been here." The girl answered for him and he felt his heart drop.

She wasn't here. He wondered if he should continue looking for her. But what would he say after seeing her? He blushed thinking again about her having to comfort him the night before. He had cried, in front of a girl he barely knew.

Well, not barely, he'd known her for a few months now and he was after all married to her, but he was embarrassed. Maybe seeing her wasn't the best course of action.

Troy had his eyebrows raised at him and Marley looked at him thoughtfuly.

"Well...?" Troy asked. "Are you going to go find her or what?"

"No." Tristan shrugged. "I'm gonna go for a ride."

Marley frowned at him and she looked like she was about to protest but Troy shot her a look. He got on his horse and rode off to the beach.

She could still be there, if she'd taken one of the passages but he knew that wasn't likely. The ocean was the second best thing.

_The second best thing? Since when had the ocean been second best?_

He stayed under the sun for the rest of the day, eating an apple for lunch.

The water seemed bluer and as he stared into it he felt like he could understand why his mother had walked in. The water seemed to be calling him then, as if every time the waves lapped into the surface his mother was reching for him.

"Did you die mother? Or are you still in there?" He asked. The water just reached closer and he stared at it until the sun began setting.

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**I hope you liked it! Please please REVIEW! I'm gonna be editing these chapters to refine them this week and this is the last boring chapter, after this there's gonna be a lot more Tristan and Adelaide! **

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**And try some of my other stories~ You might like them too!**


	15. Amost

Super short chapter guys! Sorry but it makes up for the boring one last chapter!

At this point even I don't know for sure whats gonna happen but I'm excited!

Enjoy!

and

Destiny's Child: Wow you review so fast! Thanks for being awesome and keeping me writing!

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14

She listened as he told her what might have been the most absurd story in the world. The logical sane part of her laughed, and wondered if he was delusional however she could feel the truth in his words.

His mother had come from the ocean, it added up surprisingly well with what she knew about Queen Ariel. She had come from the ocean and she had gone back into it.

When he finished he looked straight at her, a silent pleading in his eyes as if he needed her to believe him. Surprisingly, she did.

"She might be alive." She wondered out loud and Tristan's face broke into a brilliant smile. Her heart rose to her throat.

He stared at her in amazement and she felt herself blush, her face heating up.

"Maybe." He said, and she could hear the relief in his voice. She had believed him and that mattered to him. Her thoughts mattered to him!

"She isn't coming back though is she?"

"No. I don't think so."

They sat in silence for a while, until Adelaide spoke again.

"Did you tell anyone? Other than me?" Of course he did you idiot! Her mind admonished. You barely know him! Your marriage is only by name how could you be stupid enough to think you were that close!

"No." Was his reply and Adelaide could feel the butterflies in her stomach. He'd only told her! She was important to him!

"Oh. Okay." She fought her lips to keep them from curving upwards to a smile. She could feel his hand next to her's, and she held her breath as he put it over her hand.

She looked at him questioningly, and he stared back silently as if asking her permission. She flipped her hand upwards and clasped his, so that their fingers were entertwined. She could see a small grin appearing in his face from the corners of her eyes.

He scooted towards her and she stared at their hands together. Her hands were small compared to his, and much darker. Despite the fact that he lived next to the sun her hands were tanned while his were pale. They fit together well and she leaned her head on his shoulders and stared at them. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest and she hoped he couldn't hear how nervous she was.

She could feel his face bury into her hair. She bit her lips in anticipation. Electricity shot up her neck.

Did he feel the same way for her that she felt for him?

Were they even friends, she wondered. They were, of course they were.

"Lets fall in love." She heard herself say quietly. He suddenly let go of her hand and she felt her stomach drop. He didn't want to? You're such an idot Adelaide.

But instead of moving away from her he put his arms around her and pulled her even closer.

"You know you can't plan it?" He asked and she looked at him in the eyes. She knew he was saying yes.

"Watch me." She smirked kissing him on the corner of his mouth.

He stared open-mouthedly at the girl who had just kissed him. His stomach was burning and he felt the urge to kiss her properly in the mouth.

He slid his arm to her back and turned towards her lifting her other arm to her hair so that he was softly caressing it.

She sighed as he pulled her closer and she lifter her arms so that one was swung over his neck and her other hand stroked his jaw softly. She leaned in so that her forehead was touching his and he could see every shade of brown in her eyes.

He could see every pore on her skin and he could smell the jasmines in her breath. Her exhale tickled his face and he could feel her body curl up into his.

He felt her lips tap his cheeks as she looked at him daring him to kiss her. He grinned and leaned into her lips, he could see her eyes shut and he slowly closed his as well. He could feel her breath on his lips.

But before he could kiss her the door swung open and they ripped apart. Both blushing furiously.

Kristie stood on the other side, her mouth agape and her face red with embarrassment. She was holding a bag full of overflowing cloth. Tristan glared at her openly, a dissappointed feeling lining his abdomen.

"I-sorry!" Kristie yelped.

"I-its fine Kristie." He heard Adelaide say, he saw her glance at him shyly and then swiftly turn towards Kristie. "What did you get today?"

"Oh!" The girl seemed relieved that they had changed the subject as she ran up to them holding out a dress. "I got you this dress! Leo and I chose it." The girl blushed and Kristie raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, so you enjoyed my baby brother's company?" She asked cunningly. Kristie bushed harder not replying.

"Tris, father wants you in the throne room." She said instead and he nodded leaving the room but not before taking one more look at Adelaide. She gave him a small smile and he left the room with a spring to his step.  
They were gonna fall in love... She wanted to and so did he.

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REVIEW Guys! I love reviews they keep me writing!


	16. Bad News

15

Kristie asked her too many questions after Tristan had left. The girl seemed to have no shame, she asked about everything.

"Are you in love?" the girl said innocently.

"No." Was her answer, Kristie looked crestfallen. "Not yet." She added quetly.

"Does he love you?" The girl asked. Adelaide didn't know what to say. They had amost kissed, he felt for her. Maybe.

"One day, hopefully." she answered.

"And then you'll have your happily ever after!" The girl squealed, Adelaide rolled her eyes.

"We're already having it, we got married right?"

"No, it doesn't work like that." The girl pouted.

"How does it work?"

"Well, first you two meet, that's already happened." The girl started. "And then you sowly develop feeling for each other and everything."

Adelaide looked at the girl who stared back at her matter-of-factly. "And then what?"

"Well, then something really bad happens and they realize that they love each other."

"That's it?"

"No... if its a really good story once they figure out they're in love with each other one of the two does something really stupid and they are forced to confess to each other. And then only do they get a happiy ever after."

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "You need to stop reading those novels Kristie."

"Whatever," The girl grinned at her. "You'll see I'm right."

"Sure sure."

"By the way, grandpapa wanted you in the throne room too."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Adelaide got up to leave, appalled that the girl wouldn't tell her first off.

"He said to call Tristan first. He wanted to speak with him alone."

"Alone?" Adelaide asked. Something didn't feel right to her. Why would the king have asked Tristan to go to the throne room if he wanted to speak with him alone?

She left before Kristie could say anything, sprinting down the hall to the throne room. What was wrong?

It took her next to no time to get there, and even from outside she could hear the voices.

"Father! We have to tell her now!"

"We can tell her but what good would that do?"

"She's their queen! They need her now!"

"Son, we cannot let her leave."

"If she wants to leave or not, it is her descision!"

Her? Were they talking about her?

She swung open the doors. "What is my descision?" She called. All the heads in the room turned towards her.

The king had a guilty look to her face but her eyes found Tristan's and he stared back at her with an apology.

"What is my descision, your Highness?" She asked.

The King didn't reply, instead he nodded towards a dirty-looking man standing one step down from the throne.

The dirty man cleared his throat and began reading off of an equally dirty parchement.

_Your Majesty King Eric, _

_This letter is to cordially invite you to the Coronation Ball which will be held on the thirtieth of Juin, as our closest allies we extend a hand in paving a new alliance with you despite your relations with Lorraine's most despised woman. _

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, mostly because it didn't make any sense. Coronation Ball? Lorraine's most despised woman? She was their queen.

The messenger went on for what felt like hours, and she began to realize what was happening. When the messenger finally came to an end she cursed under her breath.

_My regards to the King of Kyria,_

_Sir Dimitri Crowley, soon to be King of Lorraine_

"That bastard." she muttered under her breath so that only Tristan heard.

"As you have heard-" The King began, but she interrupted him.

"Yes your majesty, I have heard. I would like to ask your permission to return home for a while. As you can see I have some things to sort out in my own country."Her voice was polite but she knew the king could hear the threat in it.

"You cannot possibly think that there is anything you can do about this situation!" The King thundered, he looked, for lack of a better word flabbergasted.

"Yes your highness, I do think there is something I can do about this situation. In fact, there are many things I could do."

The king just stared at her. "Your brother has already ridden home, if he cannot take care of it surely you don't think you can?"

"You seem to forget, your majesty, that I am the Queen of Lorraine, not my brother."

"Yes... well.." She held back the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"Thank you your majesty. I will be riding horseback so a carriage will not be necessary." She replied curtly.

"H-horseback? M'ilady you are just a..."

"Just a what? Do you mean to say that because I am a woman I am incapable of carrying out my duties to my kingdom?" The king frowned.

"No, I do not mean to offend you your majesty however it would give us great relief if you could at least take some guards with you."

"No thank you your majesty. I'm afraid they will only slow me down."

"As you wish." The king seemed to have realized he had lost the arguement as she gave a light curtsy and ran to her room.

Her plan was unfurling rapidly and she could feel the frustration fil up her body. The entire reason she had chosen to get into this marriage, and into this country was to avoid this. Grumbling to herself she stuffed a small bag with neccessary items like her long knives which were hidden under her dresses in the bottom of the closet.

She put on her pants and riding boots and put a light dress in her food pack just in case. In a few minutes she was setting up her bay packing food and water into the saddlebag.

It would take her roughly three days to ride to her palace, where her cousin was currently wreaking havoc.

They had previously been at their smaller castle far from the capitol, for her wedding and the ride from there had taken only two days by carriage. Now she was going to the heart of Lorraine and as she got on her Stallion and rushed out of the castle grounds she wondered what would happen when she reached there.

Legally she was the queen, she had yet to be properly coronated but there was no way the nobles of her land would agree to crown someone like Dimitri. They had aways had a fierce loyalty to her, and after her parent's death, her.

She knew they were still loyal to her, there was no reason to not be and she wondered what could have allowed this to happen.

Something terribly strange was underfoot.

Tristan stayed in the throne room after she had left, annoyed at hearing the tittering of the courtspeople.

"Father, she can take care of herself." He told the man sitting on the throne. He had always been annoyed at the way Kyrian's viewed women as some fragile doll ready to break.

"Oh son, she is just a girl."

"A very hard headed one at that." He heard one of the courtiers say out loud while the rest agreed.

"Yes, but father I am not much older than her. Am I just a boy then?" He asked.

"Son, you have seen much more in your life, you can handle yourself."

"So can she father, ask any of your knights." He challenged.

"My knights?"

"Yes father, your knights, her first day here she was able to best me with a double edged sword."

His father's eyes widened.

"You jest."

"I do not father, however, if it makes you feel more at ease I will ride with her to her country." He added. Despite arguing to his father about her abilities he also felt that he should at least join her.

Not because she was a woman but because it wasn't safe for any lone traveler to be traveling across countries alone. The roads were filled with bandits and in addition to that , with his new found feelings he didn't want to risk anything.


End file.
